Student burned in gas explosion which put him in coma says his life was saved - by new Calvin Klein tracksuit

A student burned in a gas explosion which put him in a coma for 12 days has claimed his life was saved by his new Calvin Klein tracksuit.

Jack Marlow, 26, fell asleep in his mum’s summer house and was awoken by a huge blaze, after a canister for the gas heater exploded.

He ran from the flaming outhouse and was rushed to hospital where doctors treated agonising third-degree burns on his hands, and other burns on his face and feet.

He was put in a coma to save his life and had grafts from his legs to replace the skin on his hands.

Miraculously he didn’t suffer any burns elsewhere on his body thanks to the £170 designer tracksuit he’d bought just a week earlier.

‘I wouldn’t be here now if I hadn’t been wearing a new tracksuit’

Marlow, from Walsall, West Midlands, said paramedics told mum it saved his life, because the high quality, fire retardant material blocked the flames.

The cyber security student said: “I wouldn’t be here now if I hadn’t been wearing a new tracksuit I had bought.

“It’s so lucky because usually I’m always wearing shorts and a vest.

"I put it on because it was new. It was a Calvin Klein one made of top-notch cotton and it was fire resistant.

“The paramedics cut it off me in the ambulance and I’m told it had just gone black. They told my mum I’m lucky I was wearing it.

“I literally burned my feet, my hands and my face - but nowhere where the tracksuit covered."

Sister watched as Jack ran out of the summer house on fire

The back garden structure housed a gas heater with a new canister which had been disconnected and turned off, the family said.

He was wearing a white and green cotton tracksuit with a hoodie top which he bought from Boohoo the week before.

Marlow has no memory of the blaze, but said firefighters told the family it could have started when a small leak from the gas bottle was ignited by a spark from an electrical appliance, like the TV or fridge.

Jack’s sister, Brittany, 23, whose room overlooks the summer house in the back garden, was woken by a huge bang at 2:30am.

She called for their dad Colin, 43, and watched as Jack ran out of the hut on fire.

The family called 999 and firefighters and an ambulance arrived.

He was sedated and his airways was artificially kept open during the journey to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, where he was put into a coma

‘I can’t remember a thing’

I can’t remember a thing,” said Marlow "It doesn’t seem real when I look at the pictures of me in the coma.

"The fire fighters said it would have leaked out very slowly so I didn’t notice it, then it would have knocked me out."

He still gets pain on his face and hands, can’t bend his fingers properly, and is having counselling.

“It’s really tough coming round from a coma.," he said.

“My brain activity isn’t back to normal yet - that can take six to twelve months.

"I’m still in shock and so is my body. This shouldn’t happen to anybody. But I feel lucky to be alive - thanks to my tracksuit."

Paramedics threw away the tracksuit, which was blackened but withstood the blaze, Jack explained.

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