Gas explosion survivor finds hope in Georgia high school cafeteria: "I'm not broken no more"

Sometimes, a second chance starts with one person simply saying, "I believe in you."

Joey Brown survived a gas explosion that burned 85% of his body. After decades of rebuilding, he has a steady job, a church family, and a dream. Now, the people who believed in his second chance are helping him take the next step.

Brown spends his days inside the Central High School in Carrollton, preparing lunch for hundreds of students. These days, he dances alongside his coworkers, smiling at the family he's found.

"Mr. Joey lights up our kitchen," said Beana Nolley, one of Brown's co-workers.  "Oh, he's not the shadow of a man who walked through the door," Nolley said.

Brown was 21 years old when a gas explosion inside his apartment left him with burns on more than 85% of his body.

"I've had probably 30 to 50 surgeries over the years," Brown said. "I was in the hospital for two and a half years. I had to learn how to walk again and feed myself again. And in 2017, I had an amputation because my left hand was melted."

For years, his world stood still. 

"For a long time, I hid from the world. And because of my burns and scars, people would stare at me. But it doesn't bother me no more," Brown said.

He is able to say that now because people believed in him, first at his church. Brown became a greeter for Midway Church in Villa Rica, where he has built relationships with people who have come to depend on his encouragement.

"He is a great, great encourager to many, many people, and they depend on that," said Kay Thompson of Midway Church. "Joey has inspired me because he is an overcomer. And no matter what happens in his life, he keeps on keeping on."

Brown said his church community has given him a sense of family. 

"I prayed a long time for my own family, and Jesus showed me families every week to come and see me and visit me," he said.

Now, he has found another family at school. Kehli Pope is Brown's job coach. She helped him overcome challenges, including not having fingerprints, and find an employer willing to embrace him.

"It just ... he touched my heart because he felt he couldn't get a job, and I wanted him to believe what I saw in him, that I knew he could do this," Pope said.

Brown has now become an irreplaceable part of the crew at Central High School. 

"A lot of kids wave to Mr. Joey all the time, and they just stare and look at him, because they're like, 'Well, he only got one arm, and he's working.' And I'd say to my kids, anything you set your mind to, you can do it," Nolley said.

For Brown, having a job has brought something he once struggled to find: hope for the future. 

"It makes me look forward to tomorrow because I didn't have nothing to look forward to and give myself hope. And now I got hope from having a job again," he said.

That hope has inspired Brown to look toward his next dream: a home of his own. 

"And now that one day I get to have a house … I will have my beagle. We'll call him Snoopy," Brown said.

Brown's story of persistence has touched many lives, including those in his church community. 

"He's an inspiration to me," said Gery Hurley, a church member.

Now, his church family is hoping to give that hope right back. Members have started a fundraiser to help Brown buy a home — and a puppy.

"There's a lot of tradesmen at church that are willing to donate their time, efforts, and in some cases, materials to help … And, that's his dream. And that's my dream right now, too," Hurley said.

After everything he has been through, Brown says he no longer sees himself as broken. 

"I was a broken man now, and I'm not broken no more," he said.

With a steady job, a community behind him, and a dream of a home and a beagle named Snoopy, Brown believes his best verse is still unwritten.