THORNTON, Colo. — A Thornton woman is warning others after she says her family’s dinner exploded in their kitchen.

Melissa Leyva says her pressure cooker exploded like a bomb, blasting boiling water all over her body.

“I was crying. I was screaming. It hurt. My shirt felt like it was on fire,” Leyva said.

Leyva had just finished cooking a roast beef dinner and went to remove the lid on her pressure cooker when she was burned.

“I opened the lid and it was just like a bomb went off. Water was shooting everywhere.  I was in so much pain, I was screaming,” she said.

Leyva’s 4-year-old son was sanding right behind her. She says she remembers picking him up and throwing him out of harm’s way.

“My first thought was to get him out of the way, and then I had a necklace on that was making it burn even more, so I ripped it off,” she said.

Leyva suffered second-degree burns and has undergone one surgery. She will receive more skin grafting in the coming weeks.

“It was really red at first and then the next day it just started boiling my skin. It was enough pain I couldn’t get out of bed. I was in so much pain I couldn’t move,” she said.

Most pressure cookers are designed with safety features that lock the lid from opening until the pressure is released. It’s unclear how or why Leyva was able to open her Nattork brand cooker before it was depressurized.

Leyva tells the FOX31 Problem Solvers her pressure cooker is going in the trash. It’s a danger she says she wants gone for good.

“I just want them to know how dangerous it is and to be careful because I didn’t know how dangerous it was,” she said.