Woman Receives Third Degree Burns From Pennies

In Oklahoma heat, some spare change in a hot car can lead to a trip in the hospital. Just ask one woman from Moore.

“Excruciating pain. It was just horrible pain I've never felt before in my life,” she said.

Melissa Sechrist, 48, of Moore, said standing outside her apartment. She can barely walk, sit or lie down after being burned by pennies left sitting inside her car on a hot day.

“The pennies were right here, I lifted my cup and they fell onto my seat like in here and that's where when I got in I stuck my leg over there and they got in my leg,” Sechrist said leaning into her Ford Explorer and pointing at the cup holder where the coins had sit before.

It happened last Wednesday, but Sechrist thought icing it would solve the problem until the burns started to blister. She finally went to a hospital on Sunday. When she did, doctors were shocked.

“The doctor actually when she came in and lifted my shorts up,” Sechrist said mimicking the doctor by leaving her mouth agape and bulging her eyes. “Her eyes got real big and she kind of jumped back. She'd never seen anything like it!”

Sechrist was told the copper coins had left her with third-degree burns on the back of her thigh. Third-degree is the most severe on the medical scale, capable of melting skin damaging nerves and even potentially hurting the underlying muscle.

She said she had been given antibiotics to avoid an infection. Her wounds, which have started heal but still have a yellow tint inside red circles, are also being treated by a cream, Sechrist said she was also given medication to help mitigate any pain.

But Sechrist wanted to get a warning out more than anything else, hoping this doesn't happen to anyone else.

“Everybody needs to watch for coins on their seats because it does burn. I would hate to see a child with these kind of burns on their legs,” she said.