BURLINGTON STANDARD PRESS : January, 2002
Fighting Fire With Desire
By Joanne Endemann
Watching Bill Ester's nimble fingers fly over the keys of his beloved piano, you'd never guess a fiery explosion nearly killed him seven years
ago.
Tautly stretched skin on his hands and arms is the only visible sign of the horrific accident that threatened to snuff out his dreams forever
and left him unable to even grip a pencil.
But Ester not only survived his ordeal, he literally learned to fight fire with fire.
The Burlington resident is embarking on a career as a motivational speaker, telling audiences of all ages how the accident renewed his
passion for life, and how his desire to play the piano and climb mountains again pulled him through a painful recovery.
If the secret of life is making lemonade out of lemons, Ester could start his own beverage company.
On May 28,1994, Ester, then an employee of Just Truckin', an East Troy-based, fuel-hauling firm, was driving a tanker loaded with 8,500
gallons of gasoline along Highway 45 near Milwaukee.
He had recently taken the part-time job after leaving his career as an accountant and was also working toward a degree as an airline
mechanic.
As Ester turned onto a freeway access ramp, the truck suddenly pitched to the right and began rolling over, rupturing the tanker.
Sparks from the truck's wheels turned the gasoline, into a raging inferno, and flames quickly shot into the open windows of the cab.
"One second I was driving, and the next second it felt like I was in a blast furnace," Ester said.
"Somehow I had the presence of mind to shut my eyes and hold my breath."
His upper body engulfed in flames, Ester struggled out of the truck and began rolling on the grass near the highway, desperately trying to
snuff out the fire.
While many of the passerbys who had stopped along the road simply stood by and took pictures of the blazing truck, one man, John
Washburn, ran to Ester with a chunk of ice to hold between his scorched hands.
"John literally saved my hands," he said. "He was a total stranger to me then, but we've become good friends since the accident."
Ester was rushed to the burn unit at St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee, but he still had no idea that 60 percent of his body was covered with
third-degree burns.
"I was supposed to play the piano at church the next day, and all I could think was, "I hope they can fix me up at the hospital so I can be
out in time for that," he recalled.
In fact, Ester would not leave the hospital for many weeks, missing both his 42nd birthday celebration and his oldest son's high school
graduation, and was unknowingly about to start the most painful journey of his life.
The burned flesh on his upper body had to be cut away so that new skin could be surgically grafted over his muscles, an excruciating
process that left him vulnerable to infections.
Ester endured six operations on his right hand alone, which was so damaged that doctors initially feared it would have to be amputated.
The joint in his left elbow calcified, leaving his arm locked at a 90-degree angle, and the accumulation of his injuries left him unable to
perform even the most simple daily living skills, such as brushing his teeth.
Ester's wife of 28 years, Nancy, was by his side every day, even though she was balancing her career as a music teacher at Cooper
Elementary and Dover Center schools with studying for her master's degree and raising the couple's three children, then 11, 16 and 18.
She admits her husband's long recovery sometimes took an emotional toll on the family.
"In some ways, things got even tougher when Bill came home, because the doctors and nurses weren't there to help anymore," Nancy
said. "But you do what you have to do to get through it. We also got a lot of support from our family, friends and church, which was so helpful."
Ester's hospital stay was followed by two years of intensive therapy with a hand specialist at the former Southern Lakes Therapeutics, a
process he compared to having a full-time job and one the family wasn't fully prepared for.
"I would come home after working all day and Bill would be sitting in a chair, making me wonder what he had been doing all day," Nancy
said. "But then I saw his hands were in fists, and I realized he might have been concentrating most of the day on just getting them in that
position. It took me a long time to realize how hard he was working."
The images of someday playing the piano again and of returning to climb Washington's Mount Rainier, which he had first scaled at the
age of 18, kept Ester going through the ordeal, but there were still a lot of dark days.
"I was close to suicide sometimes and I would think, 'I don't care if I ever climb Mount Rainier,' because I couldn't see beyond the pain," he
re-called. "But then I met some post-burn survivors and that really helped pull me through."
He also found the inspiration to go on in an unlikely source -- ice cream.
Ester's doctors had told him it was time to return to work, but his physical condition limited his employment choices and he was not
interested in returning to his former career as an accountant.
While visiting his two brothers on separate occasions in St. Louis and Denver, he became intrigued by the Dippin' Dots ice cream vendors
he saw in those cities and wondered if he had stumbled upon a new career idea for himself. The operations Ester had endured left his newly
healed skin without sweat glands, oil glands and hair, and he worried about his ability to withstand the elements if he chose to become a
vendor, but he eventually decided to put his fears aside.
Ester is now the sole Dippin' Dots franchisee in Wisconsin, and he and his family work most of the outdoor summer events in the
southeastern part of the state. When he's not working or spending time with his family, Easter can be found at his piano, or planning his next
mountain-climbing excursion.
Two years after his accident, doctors gave him permission to climb again and the first place he headed for was Mount Rainier.
He and Nancy are looking forward to the upcoming weddings of their sons, Paul, now 25, and Kevin, 23.
Their daughter Carolyn, 18, a senior at Burlington High School, has decided to pursue a career as a physical therapist, a move largely
inspired by Bill's recovery process.
The money from the Dippin' Dots franchise is helping to fund Ester's new motivational speaking venture, which he hopes to turn into a
full-time career.
After sharing his experiences with his audience, Ester plans to close each session by playing "The Impossible Dream" on his piano. The
song, which he first performed at his high school graduation 31 years ago, is a way of demonstrating how life can come full-circle, even after a
tragedy.
"I believe my accident happened for a reason, so that I could give other people hope," he said. "This is what I was meant to do and I
really feel blessed. I've got a wonderful life."
