BY BETH VELLIQUETTE

bvelliquette@heraldsun.com; 419-6632

CHAPEL HILL -- A 48-year-old man had stopped to get gas at a filling station. A 53-year-old woman was cooking with hot grease at a street side market, and a 24-year-old man was working with chemicals.

They were just going about their daily lives when the earth began to shake and the earthquake that killed 150,000 people hit Haiti on Jan. 12.

The gas station exploded, and the man's car caught on fire, burning him badly. The hot grease spilled on the woman's skin, and the vat of chemicals tipped over, causing chemical burns on the worker.

All three patients arrived Tuesday at the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center at UNC Hospitals, where finally the searing pain from the burns was put to sleep.

As a nurse at the Burn Center gave one of the patients a strong dose of a narcotic painkiller, he said to her as the pain slowly began to subside, "God bless you. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you," said Bruce Cairns, director of the Burn Center.

It's been two weeks since the three patients were first injured, and for those two weeks, Cairns said he could only guess at the physical and emotional pain they've suffered.

A burn is one of the most painful injuries, and when burns aren't treated properly, they become much more painful, Cairns said.

"The nerves are much more exposed," he said. "We see painful wounds but we can never just imagine what these people have been going through."

Local people who speak French and Creole have served as translators for the patients. The man who was burned at the gas station was not near his home when the earthquake struck. The buildings all around had collapsed, blocking the streets. He had no way of contacting his family, but eventually his wife found out where he was. She made her way to the gas station and found him. She carried him for 10 miles to a place where he would get some sort of help.

The doctors and nurses aren't sure where he was for the past two weeks or what type of treatment he may have received, Cairns said.

The patients ranged in age from 24 to 54. The burns included severe hand burns, face and scalp burns, burns on the back and chest and burns on the legs.

The spouse of one patient and the child of another patient accompanied their family members on the trip. When they arrived at the hospital, they were hungry and were still wearing the same clothes they wore when the earthquake hit, said nurse manager Grace Schmits.

"Their needs are incredible," she said. They've been through incredible trauma."

They were hungry, too, she said.

"These patients have been through a terrible ordeal," Cairns said. "They're remarkable. Their hearts, minds and souls are back to their homes and their country."