A TEENAGER who is fighting for his life after suffering third degree burns on 90 per cent of his body is out of his coma and has responded to doctors.

Troy Mackinlay’s sister, Abra Wood, said the 18-year-old still remains in a critical condition but is “going in the right direction”.

Emergency services were called to a house fire in Albert Street, Shildon, just after 7am on Friday, October 14, and arrived minutes later to find Troy and his cousin, Tommie Vayro, making their way out of the burning building.

Tommie was taken to Darlington Memorial Hospital where he was treated for minor burns and Troy was taken by ambulance to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle where he was placed into an induced coma.

Speaking on Tuesday, Mrs Wood said she was amazed at her younger brother’s progress.

“It was only a few days ago that the doctors told us he only had a few hours left to live," she said.

"We rang everybody to tell them to come to the hospital, there were 22 of us all sat in the waiting room and we thought he wasn’t going to make it through the night. We thought that was it.”

Troy is in a stable, but critical condition, and doctors have said he still has just a five per cent chance of survival.

Mrs Wood added: “On Sunday the doctors asked him to stick his tongue out if he was in pain and he did.

“It’s incredible, we couldn’t believe it. We didn’t think he would make it through the first night after the fire but he is out of the induced coma now. "Everything else remains the same, it’s still very critical, but the way we see it is he’s going in the right direction.”

Troy’s family are appealing for donations of household items to help replace what was lost in the fire.

So far dozens of people have pledged to donate sofas, beds and furniture and a storage unit in Ferryhill has been offered up free of charge for the family to store large items.

Local businesses have also donated vouchers to be raffled and more than £800 has been raised in support of the family.