Burned by a Hot Tap, a Burn Survivor’s Story

As part of National Burn Awareness Day on the 18th October we’re highlighting Burn Survivor Stories, here is Lizzie’s story…

Being a 13 year old with burns is hard as people can be pretty mean and I am struggling with my confidence, I may look and sound like a normal happy teenager but I am not.  I can’t be the same, and I never will. Some people can just take in the fact they’re burnt and they will never go away but my mind won’t let me accept them, I hate them.  But they make me ME and who I am today, so here goes, this is my story.

I was about 18 months old and was bathing with my older sister, she was only young too.  My Mum was washing her – as she took her eye off me for a second to wash my other sister I turned the tap on myself.  By the time she could get me out of the bath I was already burnt on my arm, my legs and feet.  It was an accident, one that could have happened to anyone but it happened to me.

How I deal with my burns to be honest I am not very good, I am scared of people – I am so scared of what they might say or think, I don’t want to be different so I hide them.  Only my close friends have seen them.  I never wear shorts without tights, or a dress/skirt.  I always hide them away on holiday.  I hate to wear bikinis, I think people are looking. Also I am scared to get changed in the same room, in PE I go in the toilets.  I can’t go on school camps because people will see them.  Some people are different and others don’t understand them.  So I don’t go, because I am scared. But I get help from my nurses and Burns Camp. Burns Camp is the best thing that’s helped with my burns.  When I go to camp I fit in, even if it is only for the weekend, but I don’t feel the outcast or different because we all have them, so we show them off like a medal.  They’re something that’s been given to us so we show them off.  There are some people at camp with really bad burns, or some that are hardly noticeable, but we’re all the same and camp has helped so much with my confidence.  I was a lot worse, and I love going – I look forward to it all year and just going and seeing all my friends, and how much they have changed in the last year.

So that’s my story about my burns.