The accident

The accident was the scariest thing in my life. It was the most painful thing in my life. I felt like I couldn’t breathe with the fear of what had just happened. I was freezing cold because they were pouring water on me and I was shuddering violently. My teeth were so clenched for some reason, I couldn’t speak. The ambulance seemed to take forever to come. I kept asking for it. I was panicking about my face. The panic rose and rose in my throat and I wanted to scream continuously but I knew it wouldn’t help so I laid there and concentrated on pressing the water soaked materials to my face and breathing deeply. The ambulance came but they didn’t speak to me enough. I didn’t know what was happening. I was terrified. The gas and air didn’t work because they didn’t tell me I couldn’t overdose and I was worried. I was in fear of them telling my mum because she would be really scared and upset.

During the ambulance journey I asked for more pain relief and was given morphine. I hurt unbearably and the fear was choking me and rising in me like a physical rolling wave of panic.

I was taken to the local hospital and put in a recovery room. I was waiting to go to a specialist burns unit. I heard that someone had put something on the BBQ and there had been an explosion. I could see fear in my Mum and Dad’s face when they arrived. The nurse removed my contact lenses; they had melted.

After reaching the burns unit I had to wait in a recovery room whilst my 'official' room was prepared. My arm and chest were covered in clingfilm and my face in a mask whilst they drew my injuries on a board and labelled the depth of each area. They were discussing the percentage of my burns to see if I needed to be debrided awake or asleep. I cried in terror as I knew what the procedure entailed. As an avid reader, I'd read 'The Gargoyle' http://www.the-gargoyle.co.uk/ and was all too educated.

They decided to wait until the next day and they wrapped me in clingfilm.

Luckily I had the debridement under anesthesia. I couldn’t eat anything and felt very sick and was told if I couldn’t start eating the required calories I would need a tube. I was also really dehydrated due to losing water from my damaged skin.

I had a bandage up to the ends of the fingers of my right arm and all across my chest. My face hurt when there was a breeze on it.

I had 14% burns or varying degrees on my arm, shoulder, chest and face and a long road ahead.