Nightmare Doesn’t End His Dream : Basketball: Nathan Call intends to compete in college again despite being burned in a campfire accident in Bolivia.

Nathan Call will never forget the nightmarish campfire accident that left him with first- and second-degree burns a month ago, but at least the Capistrano Valley High School graduate has recovered enough to get on with his dream--to play college basketball.

Call, 22, and a junior at Brigham Young University, sustained burns on his arms, legs and right hand on June 16 in Caranave, Bolivia, while trying to re-start a campfire.

Call, who was in Bolivia working as a Mormon missionary, first received medical attention in a tiny clinic in Caranave, then was treated at La Paz--an eight-hour bus ride away--before flying to the United States two days later for outpatient treatment at the UCI Medical Center.

One month later, Call says he is well, though he still makes weekly visits to the medical center for check-ups and rehabilitation.

“All the wounds are healed,” said Call, who was a standout in football, baseball and basketball teams before graduating from Capistrano Valley in 1986.

“They’re still treating me for scars. . . . What’s happening now is the skin is tightening up, so I’ve been doing exercises (to keep the skin supple). The backs of my legs are fine. I have all my movements.”

Call, who must wear special burn garments over parts of his body to facilitate healing, said he considers himself fortunate because the healing has been quick and no skin grafts have been required.

“We were kind of worried about infection because then they would have to graft skin . . . but luckily (there was no infection) so we didn’t have to,” he said.

On the night of the accident, Call said, he and several other missionaries gathered around a campfire to roast marshmallows.

“It was very rare that we get marshmallows down in Bolivia, but the missionary in La Paz got some and sent them down to us,” Call said. “It was late at night and we were done with our mission work, so around 10:30 we decided to roast marshmallows.”

When the fire started to die, Call said he tried to revive it but could not. He got a small plastic bottle of rubbing alcohol from his living quarters, and started to pour the alcohol on the fire. But the flames engulfed the bottle, igniting it, splattering the burning plastic, alcohol and flames on Call’s hand. The flames spread to his arms and legs.

“I jumped back . . . I was looking for a towel, but I couldn’t find one,” Call recalled. “I screamed for a towel. A guy finally brought out a little blanket. They put my hand out but my legs were still going. I just fell back . . . It felt like forever.”

Call, who was three weeks from completing his two-year mission when the accident occurred, was taken to a nearby clinic where his burns were cleaned and he was given painkillers. The next day he was bused to La Paz, 90 miles north of Caranave. Call’s father, Henry, flew to La Paz, then escorted his son home.

Call, who was told to stay out of the sun for one year to further protect his burned skin, is now able to begin playing basketball. He plays at a local church gymnasium near his parents’ house, hoping to regain the shape he was in when he last played for BYU as a sophomore in 1988.

“I haven’t played for a while, but that’s my goal, to go back and start,” Call said. “That’s what I want to do. (Basketball is) going good. My mind knows what I want to do, but my body doesn’t follow. That’s not because of the burns, though. It’s just from being out of basketball for two years. In Bolivia we played every once in a while, but it wasn’t exactly competitive.”