9-year-old left disfigured, wants other kids to learn from his mistake

PALM SPRINGS-- Despite riding in the Trauma Hawk and being rushed to an emergency room so doctors could tend to a bloody gash on his face, 9-year-old Ryan Gooding says he wasn't scared.

"In the helicopter, it started hurting really bad," he said.

He just wanted that annoying pain to go away.

The Palm Springs 4th grader did not want to show his scarred, black and blue face, but he did want to talk about the home-made pressure bomb that left him disfigured.

After watching how-to videos on YouTube he mixed some common household items in smaller bottles and saw them explode with no problem.

"This time we did it with a 2-liter soda bottle which blew up off the curve, where you park, and it came back and blew up on my face," he said.

He didn't dare look in a mirror, but he could feel what had happened to his face.

"Yeah my nose was busted open. It was broken," he said.

A bloodied and dazed Ryan ran to his father, John, who was trying to keep it together for his son.

"You could see into his nasal cavity, a deep laceration, and I could actually see into his nasal passage," recalled the father.

Ryan had reconstructive nasal surgery and will probably undergo further plastic surgery to try to lessen a 5-inch scar that will remain forever etched on his face.

He says he doesn't want this to happen to other kids.

"I would tell kids to never watch those videos anymore. They probably fake it on YouTube and they make them look without hurting anybody," he said.

When asked what he learned from his painful lesson, "I'll never use that stuff again. I don't want to get hurt," he said.