A hero twice over
Only to the extent that someone is living out this self transcendence of human existence is he truly human or does he become his true self. He becomes so, not by concerning himself with his self's actualization, but by forgetting himself and giving himself, overlooking himself and focusing outward. --Viktor Frankl
When Michael Keenan ran into a burning building to save a dog -- a dog that didn't even belong to him in a home where he didn't live -- his friends and family weren't surprised.
The San Francisco man had already proven himself a hero six years earlier when he jumped into San Francisco Bay to save two strangers who had driven their car into the water. He knocked out the back window of their fully submerged car and pulled a woman to safety, but her husband died before he could be rescued.
Now Keenan, 43, is fighting for his life at San Francisco General Hospital. He'd safely escaped the fire at a friend's house Tuesday morning but then did something firefighters warn people never to do: He ran back inside the house. He managed to rescue his friend's dog but suffered burns to 80 percent of his body.
On Thursday, Keenan went in for the first of what are likely to be many surgeries, and doctors have told his friends and family that his chances of survival are 50-50.
"I know a lot of people may judge him for going back in for a dog, but it's just part of his nature. It's just courage," said Frank Hsieh, a San Francisco firefighter who has known Keenan for about 20 years. "He just acts. He's selfless. The guy's a total hero."
The dog, a 10-year-old Jack Russell terrier named Bobby, also is fighting to live. After Keenan pulled him from the fire, Bobby -- with serious burns to his legs and the bottom of his feet -- ran away, making it several blocks to the home of his owner's friend, from where he was taken to a local pet hospital.
Keenan, an artist, had been house-sitting for Janet Gerl, a close friend, at her home on Bonita Street in Russian Hill when the fire started. He recently had returned to San Francisco after living in Los Angeles for a couple of years and was waiting for renovations to be complete at an apartment he would be renting.
The fire started at about 2:30 a.m. near the front of the house. Keenan ran safely out of the house, then ducked back into the flames when he realized the dog was still inside, according to the Fire Department. When Keenan came back out of the house, he was engulfed in flames. He was still conscious when he arrived at the hospital and talked to medical personnel about the dog, authorities said. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Since the fire, Keenan has been in an induced coma, friends and family said. The worst burns are to his hands and feet, and his body has been swollen by intravenous fluids. He underwent surgery Thursday to remove dead skin from his hands and arms and to replace it with cadaver skin.
The dog isn't in much better shape. Bobby is in intensive care at Pets Unlimited, and swelling has left him blind, although it's too soon to say whether the eye damage is permanent, said veterinarian Dr. Megan Moses.
Friends said a lot of people might question whether the risk Keenan took to save a dog was worth it. But Keenan, they said, probably never gave it a second thought.
"I'm sure he was concerned for the safety of the animal and what the owner might go through if the dog wasn't saved," said friend David Stefani of San Francisco. "He was not thinking about himself first, that's for sure."
And he wasn't thinking of himself in December 2001 when he dove into San Francisco Bay to save a stranger, friends said.
It was Christmas Day, and Keenan and a friend had gone to the St. Francis Yacht Club for drinks to celebrate the holiday. Outside the club, Heather Laarif was teaching her husband, Abdel, how to drive, San Francisco police said at the time. The couple had pulled their Jeep Cherokee into a parking spot at the edge of the bay, and suddenly the car jerked forward -- investigators assume Abdel Laarif accidentally hit the accelerator. The car tumbled into the water.
Keenan saw the accident as it happened, said Hsieh, who was part of the firefighter battalion that responded to the incident. Keenan grabbed a wrench from someone at the club and jumped into the 50-degree water, Hsieh said. He used the wrench to smash the back windshield of the Jeep and pulled out Heather Laarif. The water was so treacherous that it was hours before authorities were able to retrieve the Jeep.
"He must think he's Spider-Man or something. He's clearly got the hero instinct in him," said Keenan's brother, Jim Keenan. "He picked the wrong job. He's an artist, and he should be a cop or a fireman or something."
Longtime friend Stacie Krajchir of Los Angeles agreed: "I want to tell him when he wakes up, 'If you wanted to be search-and-rescue, why didn't you just join the damned fire department?' "
Keenan spent most of his childhood in Maine but moved to California in his early 20s to start a clothing design company with friends from his home state. He has lived in California ever since, mostly in San Francisco.
He has worked on and off as a clothing designer and supported himself with jobs as an artist and carpenter. Most recently, he had been renovating a business in Marin County, friends said.
Keenan is an outgoing charmer, they said, and he's had a near-constant stream of visitors since arriving at the hospital. The accident, his friends said, has turned into a bittersweet sort of reunion for friends, who have flown in from as far away as Maine to be with him. Friends are setting up a Web site to keep people updated on his condition. "He's like a brother to me -- he always treated me like a sister," Krajchir said. "It's hard, seeing him like this. Michael is always so alive and vivacious."
Friends have established a trust fund to pay for Michael Keenan's medical expenses. For information, go to michaeljameskeenan.blogspot.com.
E-mail Erin Allday at eallday@sfchronicle.com.
When Michael Keenan ran into a burning building to save a dog -- a dog that didn't even belong to him in a home where he didn't live -- his friends and family weren't surprised.
The San Francisco man had already proven himself a hero six years earlier when he jumped into San Francisco Bay to save two strangers who had driven their car into the water. He knocked out the back window of their fully submerged car and pulled a woman to safety, but her husband died before he could be rescued.
Now Keenan, 43, is fighting for his life at San Francisco General Hospital. He'd safely escaped the fire at a friend's house Tuesday morning but then did something firefighters warn people never to do: He ran back inside the house. He managed to rescue his friend's dog but suffered burns to 80 percent of his body.
On Thursday, Keenan went in for the first of what are likely to be many surgeries, and doctors have told his friends and family that his chances of survival are 50-50.
"I know a lot of people may judge him for going back in for a dog, but it's just part of his nature. It's just courage," said Frank Hsieh, a San Francisco firefighter who has known Keenan for about 20 years. "He just acts. He's selfless. The guy's a total hero."
The dog, a 10-year-old Jack Russell terrier named Bobby, also is fighting to live. After Keenan pulled him from the fire, Bobby -- with serious burns to his legs and the bottom of his feet -- ran away, making it several blocks to the home of his owner's friend, from where he was taken to a local pet hospital.
Keenan, an artist, had been house-sitting for Janet Gerl, a close friend, at her home on Bonita Street in Russian Hill when the fire started. He recently had returned to San Francisco after living in Los Angeles for a couple of years and was waiting for renovations to be complete at an apartment he would be renting.
The fire started at about 2:30 a.m. near the front of the house. Keenan ran safely out of the house, then ducked back into the flames when he realized the dog was still inside, according to the Fire Department. When Keenan came back out of the house, he was engulfed in flames. He was still conscious when he arrived at the hospital and talked to medical personnel about the dog, authorities said. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Since the fire, Keenan has been in an induced coma, friends and family said. The worst burns are to his hands and feet, and his body has been swollen by intravenous fluids. He underwent surgery Thursday to remove dead skin from his hands and arms and to replace it with cadaver skin.
The dog isn't in much better shape. Bobby is in intensive care at Pets Unlimited, and swelling has left him blind, although it's too soon to say whether the eye damage is permanent, said veterinarian Dr. Megan Moses.
Friends said a lot of people might question whether the risk Keenan took to save a dog was worth it. But Keenan, they said, probably never gave it a second thought.
"I'm sure he was concerned for the safety of the animal and what the owner might go through if the dog wasn't saved," said friend David Stefani of San Francisco. "He was not thinking about himself first, that's for sure."
And he wasn't thinking of himself in December 2001 when he dove into San Francisco Bay to save a stranger, friends said.
It was Christmas Day, and Keenan and a friend had gone to the St. Francis Yacht Club for drinks to celebrate the holiday. Outside the club, Heather Laarif was teaching her husband, Abdel, how to drive, San Francisco police said at the time. The couple had pulled their Jeep Cherokee into a parking spot at the edge of the bay, and suddenly the car jerked forward -- investigators assume Abdel Laarif accidentally hit the accelerator. The car tumbled into the water.
Keenan saw the accident as it happened, said Hsieh, who was part of the firefighter battalion that responded to the incident. Keenan grabbed a wrench from someone at the club and jumped into the 50-degree water, Hsieh said. He used the wrench to smash the back windshield of the Jeep and pulled out Heather Laarif. The water was so treacherous that it was hours before authorities were able to retrieve the Jeep.
"He must think he's Spider-Man or something. He's clearly got the hero instinct in him," said Keenan's brother, Jim Keenan. "He picked the wrong job. He's an artist, and he should be a cop or a fireman or something."
Longtime friend Stacie Krajchir of Los Angeles agreed: "I want to tell him when he wakes up, 'If you wanted to be search-and-rescue, why didn't you just join the damned fire department?' "
Keenan spent most of his childhood in Maine but moved to California in his early 20s to start a clothing design company with friends from his home state. He has lived in California ever since, mostly in San Francisco.
He has worked on and off as a clothing designer and supported himself with jobs as an artist and carpenter. Most recently, he had been renovating a business in Marin County, friends said.
Keenan is an outgoing charmer, they said, and he's had a near-constant stream of visitors since arriving at the hospital. The accident, his friends said, has turned into a bittersweet sort of reunion for friends, who have flown in from as far away as Maine to be with him. Friends are setting up a Web site to keep people updated on his condition. "He's like a brother to me -- he always treated me like a sister," Krajchir said. "It's hard, seeing him like this. Michael is always so alive and vivacious."
Friends have established a trust fund to pay for Michael Keenan's medical expenses. For information, go to michaeljameskeenan.blogspot.com.
E-mail Erin Allday at eallday@sfchronicle.com.