Caldwell family seeking answers after student suffers burns to hands

CALDWELL, Texas (KBTX) – A family in Caldwell is seeking answers after their student came home with second-degree burns on her hands.

It happened at school and her mom shared her daughter’s injuries Thursday morning on Facebook. The post was quickly shared with many people disturbed about what they saw.

Caydence Wilson, a 7th grader at Caldwell Junior High School said it all happened after she and a friend laughed in one of their classes. Wilson said the principal told them they would be in class detention for about 10-20 minutes and they would let their softball coach know about the incident. She said she had two rounds of punishment from her coach, a round of 100 squats and bear crawls in the 90-degree heat on the turf.

It was the bear crawls that would end up doing the damage to her hands, causing second-degree burn blisters.

“I could like feel my hands start to whelp and burn and I could feel the blisters burning on my hands and I told her and she was like ‘You’re ok you’re almost done’ but I wasn’t really almost done so I kept going and I got on my knees because I could feel them push and pop,” Caydence said. “She’s like ‘No you’re fine keep going.’”

Afterward, Caydence said she had told another coach about what happened and was given some ice. The blisters eventually popped and she had to go to St. Joseph in Bryan where they cleaned the wound, numbed it, and tore the skin off of it. She said the pain was a 10 out of 10. She said she was still in pain.

“Like burning pain, excruciating it felt like a knife was stabbed into my lower palm,” Caydence said.

Her mom, Chloe Couch said she was not called or made aware of the situation even after Caydence asked her coaches if she could call her to bring home bandages.

“She tried to reach out to me and it wasn’t until she was on the bus ride home that she sent me those pictures of those blisters oozing,” Couch said.

Caydence and her mother spent around seven hours in the hospital, not leaving until 4 a.m. Thursday morning. They don’t know when Caydence’s injuries will heal, and it has already left a financial burden on the family.

“I’m a single mom of three kids, so I’m living paycheck to paycheck and making my ends meet as I can for my kids,” Couch said. “I can’t afford medicinal bills and medications and wraps that were having to apply every four to six hours for the pain.”

Caldwell ISD stated KBTX. It said “Caldwell ISD is aware of the Facebook post that circulated early this morning. We take any reports of incidents very seriously and are actively investigating the matter in accordance with our established protocols and procedures. Please be assured that appropriate actions will be taken based on the outcome of our investigation.”

“I feel like it’s not sincere and it doesn’t mean a lot to me and my daughter and having to stand beside her in the hospital and not being able to hold her hands because there are second-degree blisters on both hands, can’t hold her hands and she’s screaming and shouting. It was tragic,” Couch said.

“I feel like there could have been a stop to what happened to me and I could have done what I love most without being hurt,” Caydence said.

The family said it might take legal action against the school district. Meanwhile, the Burleson County Sheriff’s Office said it is investigating the incident.

“I hope that they are made aware and that nothing happens to any other kids because I would hate for it to not be taken care of and for someone else to be injured just as bad as Caydence was if not worse,” Couch said.