Lola’s story – 9 years on

Back in 2016, Catherine – a West Sussex mum whose baby suffered terrible burns when she tipped a hot cup of tea over her body – shared her daughter’s story. Lola is now 10 years old and we are so pleased to catch up with how she’s doing…

Lola was ten months old when she had her accident at home. Lola had only learned to pull herself to standing the night before and just as her dad turned his back to pick her up she snuck behind him, pulled herself up and pulled a freshly made cup of tea (without milk) over her face and body. Lola was rushed to our local hospital with 40% burns to her body. These were mainly superficial to her face and chest but she suffered 14% full thickness burns to both her shoulders and arms. She was transferred to our local specialist burns hospital QVH for treatment and once it was decided Lola would need skin grafts to repair the damage to the arms and shoulders she was transferred to Broomfield Hospital for surgery due to her age.

After several weeks in hospital, many outpatient appointments and wearing pressure garments along with massaging 4 times daily for 2 years Lola made a brilliant recovery. Now aged 10 Lola is confident and proud of her scars as they show how brave she has been.

She will share her story willingly to help raise awareness so that hopefully another baby won’t have the same accident. For the past nine years Lola has been supported by the Children’s Burns Club based at Broomfield Hospital-not only has Lola made friends with other children with scars but we as parents have met other families with similar stories. I’ve no doubt that Lola’s confidence and great self-esteem is down to their input and support. 

Lola has been fortunate not to have needed any further surgeries thus far but as her body grows and develops further it is likely she will need some operations and treatment again. I’m sure she will face these with the same bravery and resilience she has in the past and with her usual great big smile too!