Exploding fireworks teach tough lesson

PROVO — A spur-of-the-moment trip to Mexico last Christmas started a chain of events that, in a second, would forever change a young man's life.

Brigham Young University student Craig Decker and a few friends drove down to Mexico for a quick trip. His friends bought souvenirs, including a sombrero and a leather jacket. He bought fireworks.

On New Year's Eve, back in Provo, Decker and his friends started lighting the fireworks.

"At midnight we went outside," Decker said. "I grabbed a firework and lit it and it went off. Everyone cheered."

It was the second firework that altered Decker's life.

"The whole thing just exploded in my hand," he said. "It was by far the most surprising thing that has ever happened to me."

Decker looked down and saw his right hand was "obliterated."

Friends who had Boy Scout training went into action. One took off his belt and made a tourniquet on Decker's arm. Others called an ambulance.

"I asked my friends if they could look for my fingers," Decker said. "But they didn't find anything."

In the emergency room reality started sinking in. Thinking about the future, he said, he had the distinct impression nothing would ever really be the same.

Today, the West Jordan native is trying to live his life just as before. He said he rethinks how to do certain things like putting on socks, getting dressed and cutting steak.

Once right-handed, he now writes with his left. He's a junior with a major in neuroscience, still thinking of pursuing a medical career.

He can't play video games anymore but has learned how to play tennis left-handed. He likes to cook, still dates and even went sky-diving in May.

"Craig is really a go-getter," said Westin Hatch, a friend who took the sky-dive with him. "You jump attached to another person. He couldn't grab on and help steer the parachute, but he loved it."

Recently, Decker was fitted for a prosthesis. Having an arm with a hook, he decided a pirate party was in order, complete with diving for gold and walking the plank.

"It's kind of like when life hands you lemons, make lemonade," he said. "If you have to have a hook, have a pirate party."

Decker has kept his sense of humor through the whole ordeal. Family and friends have learned they can joke with him as well.