A hospital spokesperson says the six Imperial Sugar Refinery workers who remain hospitalized in Augusta are showing improvements.

Twenty victims were brought to the Joseph M. Still Burn Center after the February 7 explosion and fire at the plant near Savannah.

Six of those victims are still being treated at the hospital. Two men are fighting to make a monumental recovery.

Paul Seckinger and Justin Purnell were severely burned in the explosion. Now two months later, the friends are making progress.

"They may sit him up in a chair today so that's a big move. I'm very excited about that, I'd like to get a picture of it," said Karen Seckinger, Paul's mother.

"He was putting clothespins on a little rod to exercise his fingers," said Jenny Purnell, Justin's wife.

Paul was burned over 80 percent of his body and is still hospitalized in the Joseph M. Still Burn Center.

Justin's burns cover 60 percent of his body. He was well enough to be moved to the Doctors Hospital Rehab Unit.

"They work him from head to toe. He seems pretty determined to make everything work like it did before," Jenny Purnell said.

Each day, Justin and other burn patients spend at least three hours working with a team of nearly 60 therapists and specialists. Sharon McRae is an occupational therapist.

"If fishing is your thing, we want to get that person back to fishing again. If it's working at the plant, that's what we're geared towards doing," she said.

A new tool, or toy to some, is helping to make that road to recovery a bit easier. It's called Nintendo Wii.

"We have them do bowling, hunting, fishing; activities to stimulate some of the things they may do at home and they've really enjoyed it. This has brought a whole new aspect into the treatment program that we're able to do just a little something extra that makes their stay more interesting," said Dean Beasley, Director of Doctors Hospital Rehab Unit.

They're two friends who beat the odds in a sometimes difficult game of life.

There's no timetable for Paul or Justin's discharge. Four patients are still being treated at the burn unit and two in the rehab unit.

Nine patients from the explosion have been discharged from Doctors Hospital. Unfortunately, five died at the hospital. Eight others were killed the night of the explosion.

Inspectors say sugar dust ignited and cause the blast.