James January  was burned September 1991. He was Branched but not Commissioned, Regular Army, Military Intelligence...a fancy way of saying that he got burned his senior year of college. 
At age 21, everything he worked for went up in smoke when the vehicle he was driving had some issues, to put it mildly. At one point the braking did not work properly, swerving out of its lane & rather than hit the oncoming car, taking out the family inside, he steered the truck right when it wanted to go left. 
He remembers reaching through flames to undo the seatbelt as the truck was skidding on its side. The other guy got out quick, it exploded on him before he was able to climb out the passenger side window. 
He was burned 85-90% most of it full thickness burns every where except where he was wearing shorts and shoes. After a period of struggle, due to both his injuries and a search for something that would challenge him, in the mid 1990’s he became involved with the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center, specifically its education, prevention and post burn programs. 
He has immersed himself in anything that deals with burn survivors and their family and friends, anyone who works with burn survivors, and the prevention of burn injury ever since. He believes any program designed to work beyond the hospital doors...anything dealing with the prevention of burn injury, life beyond a burn injury, or getting the patient from living to thriving in spite of a burn injury...functions best with a well trained, highly motivated burn survivor as part of the team.

From such foundation, has sprung BurnSurvivor.org

"A sot of burn trauma think tank if you will. We work with burn survivors, their family and friends. We work with those who work with burn survivors. We work to prevent burns. We seek to become a resource and networking center for burn survivors, burn care professionals, firefighters, family and friends. Encourage the development of programs that go beyond the operating room. Recruit and train burn survivors to be part of the burn team. Become a resource of support and education."

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