Colby’s Journey: Overcoming Severe Burns
Story
On Friday, May 23, 2025, around 9:15 pm, Colby Neitz was involved in an accidental explosion.
Colby and Faith are truly salt of the Earth people and are so kind and giving. If you have been to Moon Lake Marina then you’ve probably been greeted by their friendly faces!
You can’t help but smile around them! Let’s rally as a community and lift them up in prayer!
The accident was caused by a spark from a bilge pump igniting gas vapors in the hull of Colby’s houseboat.
He inherited The Silver Flying Eagle houseboat from his Papaw Booker about a year ago. Colby worked on The Silver Flying Eagle every chance he got, with Faith Taylor by his side holding lights and handing him the tools he needed or couldn’t reach. On any of Colby and Faith’s days off, you could find them in the field with sack lunches, working hard and dreaming about the days ahead on the houseboat.
Colby was nervous but super excited. When the day came, it was finally time to locate a truck that could launch The Silver Flying Eagle houseboat, its trailer, and into the water. You can only imagine the excitement! The launch went great! The boat and most of its components were working just as they should, except for the automatic bilge pump. After Colby pumped 16 gallons of gas into the boat, he realized the fuel line was not hooked up to the fuel tank, which meant 16 gallons of gasoline pumped into the hull of the boat. Colby and friends took turns with a hand pump, pumping the gas into 5-gallon buckets until all the gas the pump could collect was out of the hull. Colby and Faith then hosted their very first houseboat trip! The trip went great! With the bilge pumps still not working correctly, they cut the trip short. It was still just enough to get family and friends of Colby and Faith talking about the summer to come!
While Colby was drained from the rush of excitement and nerves that the day had brought, he was still concerned about the now water and gas mixture in the hull of his houseboat. He insisted on airing and pumping out the hull of the boat once again before he headed home for the evening. Colby was in the hull, and Faith was on the deck of the boat when a spark from a bilge pump ignited the gas fumes lurking in the hull of the boat. It was a flash explosion! Meaning nothing caught fire.
Faith experienced some singed hair, but the explosion impact literally picked her up off her feet and launched her over the railing of the houseboat about 10 feet from the boat into the dark water. Colby, in his clothes that he spent the day hand pumping gasoline in, was blown out of the hull and was on fire.
Faith was treated at St. Francis for minor burns. Colby’s burns cover over 40% of his body, and he was airlifted to the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s burn unit, where he still remains getting treated for 2nd and 3rd degree burns. He has surgery today (May 27) to have artificial skin over both arms and upper legs. He has a long, painful road to recovery ahead of him.
We are fundraising to support Colby’s medical expenses and recovery. We want to thank everyone for your messages, comments, and prayers! Colby has highly impressed the doctors, nurses, friends, and family with his positive attitude and amazing strength through all this!! Hopefully, he will be home by next week.
When he does return home, he will be staying with his Big Daddy and Kaki. (Joey and Kathy) and will be surrounded by family and friends. So go by and check on him when you’re out and about. He would love to see y’all!!
Organizers :
Mary Siggers is organizing this fundraiser on behalf of Colby Neitz.