Life will never be the same

Third-degree burns cover 63 per cent of his body after a fireball engulfed him, but an Upper Hutt GP still thinks he's lucky.

Ten months ago Marko Kljakovic walked with a candle into a house he was renovating. He ran out a ball of flame after fumes from paint thinners ignited and blew up the Wellington home.

Mr Kljakovic spent weeks in a coma, clinging precariously to life, then months in an intensive care unit and in the National Burns Unit at Auckland's Middlemore Hospital.

Doctors said his injuries and secondary complications probably should have killed him.

Now he is back home, scarred and dressed in compression garments over most of his body.

He still needs operations on his hands, right elbow and the scars on the edge of his mouth.

Life will never be the same, but Mr Kljakovic has a positive take on the tragedy: "I think I'm actually quite fortunate, apart from being very, very unlucky.

"I've got full use of my legs, and full use of my arms.

"My vision's all right, my hearing's all right, and most importantly, I've still got my mind. I could have been gaga."

His survival has been a long battle for himself, his family and close friends.

His wife, Lise, also a GP, left her practice and she and their two daughters moved to Auckland to be at his bedside.

With such overwhelming injuries, progress was slow and each small achievement was a triumph. It took weeks for him to be able to talk, sit up and stand. Unable to bend his arms, he needed spoon-feeding for months. "That's frightening, when you're totally dependent." he said.

His wife still cares for him fulltime. She has changed his dressings, organised physiotherapy and other treatments, battled infections and worked hard to fatten him up.

"She has made it her mission in life to feed me. I lost 25 kilos. I've put 15 of that back on."

He admits the injuries were at times overwhelming and knows there are further hurdles ahead.

But he is resolute. "I'll just go back to getting on with my life."