Burned by a Coffee Cup, a Burn Survivor’s Story

As part of National Burn Awareness Day on the 18th October we are highlighting Burn Survivor Stories, here is Miss L’s Mums story…

Miss L, aged 3, was burnt in April 2013 when she went into the kitchen to say goodnight to one of her parents who was cooking.

A series of uncharacteristic events led to a freshly poured mug of black coffee being left on the kitchen table. No one in the house usually drank black coffee and they never usually left hot drinks on the dining table. The second Miss L went into the kitchen she must have gone to pick up the mug, which would have been both too hot and too heavy for her to hold.

One parent was just a step away from her cooking and the other in the lounge and shouted to let the other parent know that Miss L was on her way in. The first the parents knew was when Miss L screamed a scream that they had never heard before.

Being first aid trained her Dad immediately run upstairs to the shower with her and got in with her. She was wearing a poppers vest and trousers and when they took the vest off they saw the extent of the burns. They brought her out of the shower to phone the ambulance and her Mum held her with a wet tea towel, then as instructed by the 999 team they wrapped her loosely in cling film until the paramedic arrived.

She was initially taken to the local hospital who immediately on arrival gave her morphine which calmed her down. They were then sent on to Morriston Hospital, the Welsh Centre for Burns and Plastic Surgery where they received excellent treatment and after-care following a 4 day in-patient stay.

After 2 years of applying creams and high factor sun cream Miss L has healed fantastically. “I want to be able to help other parents to see that not only do these things happen, but that recovery happens too.” Miss L’s mother