GREENSBORO, N.C. — Jacob Luck said he had pure intentions when he got rid of a dead deer in his yard but ultimately it resulted in severe burns on the theatre teacher's body.
He said because of this, he's learned an important lesson.
"You know, I'm sitting here with 2nd and 3rd degree burns on my arms and legs but I know that those are temporary compared to what could have been," Luck said.
As parts of his face, right arm and leg sit burnt, he's grateful for his students at Northwest Guilford Middle School who have helped pull him through.
"It's nice to have a student reach out and reassure you that you have made a difference in their life and it's also nice that I get to return home to my family," Luck said.
Luck said he and his wife were leaving for work last Thursday when they noticed a dead deer in their front yard.
He said that same day, he called the City of Greensboro and put in a work order to remove the body.
Luck said as the days passed, he didn't want to wait any longer and he decided to take matters into his own hands.
"Monday, as we were burning things, it was a teacher work day, I decided to take it upon myself to get rid of this animal carcass," Luck said.
He said he was trying to give the deer a proper burial, "for me, it was more ceremonial. I was planning on burying the animal when I was finished," Luck said.
But it all backfired on him when an accidental explosion left him with burns, "what had happened here with my incident was that the five gallon gasoline can ultimately exploded causing me to engulf in flames, here as you see on the righter side of my body," Luck said.
He said he doesn't recommend anyone do what he did, "I am a school teacher and so the life lesson here is that when you are burning things, obviously adding things on top them is not very smart,"
Luck said he's just grateful to see another day, "we were just thankful that I was alive."
Luck said in the next two weeks, he's set to see specialists about his burns and to see his students star in a play they have been working hard on. He said he looks forward to healing.