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SALT LAKE CITY — For Fran Buchnoff, talking about how wonderful her son is, is the easy part.
"He was always the first to volunteer to help people and he's always been like that," Fran Buchnoff told KSL News at University Hospital Friday.
What's hard is talking about the day that changed their family's lives forever.
"We got a call while we were at the coast that he'd been in an accident outside of Salt Lake," she said.
On Nov. 28, 2014, her son, Les Shelton, was just passing through Spanish Fork, hauling a load of more than 8,000 gallons of gasoline, when the accident happened.
"It's a nightmare," Buchnoff said. "That's all I can say, is that it's a nightmare."
Motorists saw the huge flames that day and helped pull her son to safety, but Shelton suffered third-degree burns to 60 percent of his body.
Nearly 20 weeks later, he's still fighting to survive.
"His body is not healing, and it's just because he's gone through so much," his mother said.
This week has been especially tough, as Shelton suffered a big setback.
"He's had both his arms amputated at the elbow," Buchnoff said. "There's a possibility that we might lose him."
Adding to the family's hardship is the fact all this happened so far from home. Shelton is from Colorado, while Buchnoff lives in California.
Utah now feels like a home away from home for her — something she didn't expect. She's been offered a place to stay while she's here and said each day she thinks about those motorists that helped her son.
"I can't say thank you enough," Buchnoff said, through tears. "Word cannot express that gratitude we feel."
Though she wishes the accident never happened, she is grateful it happened somewhere she's found so much support.
"If it was going to happen, it was a blessing that it happened here," Buchnoff said.
