The unfinished story of Josh Casorso

Josh Casorso in the hospital

Josh is a young man: just 19 years old. On good days, he’s an optimist, rallying the team, pointing the way to adventure. That’s how he was last October 7.

He was in India on a six-month mission trip with MBMS International, with a team from Willow Park Church, Kelowna, B.C., dividing his time between working in an orphanage, taking language school, and building relationships.

The team was a few months into the routine of living in another country and Josh was comfortable with his surroundings, including the monkeys and rickshaws, attending Indian festivals, and mucking through the streets in monsoon season.

An invitation came: Josh and three friends were asked to attend a wedding. This would require an overnight train ride. The boys jumped at the opportunity, finding their way to the train station, and heading towards what Josh’s father, John Casorso, would later describe as a “really sharp turn.”

At one of the train’s stops, Josh spotted a parked train next to theirs and asked a friend to take his picture. A ladder on the side of the train beckoned; it was the perfect Kodak moment.

Josh ascended a few rungs and his friend snapped a picture. Then Josh lost consciousness.

Critical condition

Friends told him later that he’d climbed a little higher and as overhead electrical cables arched towards his metal belt buckle, he was blasted off the train onto the pavement, landing head first and on fire. Two friends tore off Josh’s shirt, another ran to stop the now moving train, and the three of them hauled Josh aboard. Not knowing exactly where they were going, they travelled to two different hospitals before they found the Christian medical college in Ludhiana that could treat him.

All this time Josh was in critical condition. He had suffered severe electrical burns to 60 percent of his body (from the neck down) and spinal injury. The friends almost lost him a few times but never left his side, using all the money they had to get him help before monies from insurance, church, and community would arrive.

In the middle of the chaos, there were miracles. The medical team bandaged Josh exactly as they should as he conquered excruciating pain with minimal pain medication. In other beds, people perished. The hospital extended grace and treated Josh, not knowing (even when he was evacuated) whether they would be paid. Josh’s father arrived in India a few days later and, he said, it seemed people showed up “out of the woodwork” to care for the family and provide assistance. When things seemed gloomy, someone came to pray with Josh and sing in his room.

Evacuation, endurance

On Diwali (Festival of Lights), India’s biggest party night, Josh was evacuated by ambulance. They drove towards New Delhi amid rockets and fireworks and thousands of people celebrating in the streets.

Forty hours later Josh arrived by commercial jet in Vancouver, B.C. to endure two months of treatment and skin grafting. He’s home now, and at this story’s writing, was waiting to fly to Chicago for assessment in an electrical burn centre regarding possible internal injuries.

Josh describes his current routine quietly. Mornings, he gets up, bathes, puts cream on, and stretches; he always has to stretch to keep himself from “tightening up in a ball.”

In the early days of his injury his task involved physical endurance: getting through the day, getting through the night. Now a different kind of endurance is involved: getting through days filled with emotional uncertainty and darker nights of discouragement.

When I asked Josh what those in his wider family of MB churches could pray for him, he said, “I don’t know.” He has many scars to deal with and many of his steps now lead into medical offices.

John Casorso says this is a story that’s not finished. Miracle after miracle has brought them home, but “what did this all mean and what lies ahead?” are questions that linger.

“When you lose all ability to have control over something, the only option is to lean on the Lord,” he says. “That is all there is. That is all that matters.”

Teresa Klassen attends SunRidge Community Church, Kelowna, B.C.