When my daughter was 13 months old, she was involved in an accident, which left her with permanent scars. One morning 17 years ago I was letting my older son out for school, and in a matter of seconds, Stephanie pulled the cord on a coffeepot and was severely burned. She had first-, second- and third-degree burns on her face, chest and arm.
Stephanie was taken to the burn unit of the University of Chicago Hospital. I was told by the hospital that the skin on her face would grow back smoothly with no problem, but the burns on her upper neck, chest and arm would leave permanent scars. Mistakenly I pulled Stephanie’s shirt off while her skin was still burning. When I did this, I pulled the skin off her chest, which in essence made the burn worse, and as it healed, it left a keloid scar on her chest and arm.
My daughter was so small and in so much pain, it seemed as if she cried for hours. The doctors could not give her a lot of medicine because of her age. To comfort her the nurses and I cuddled and rocked her.
When Stephanie started school, she had a very hard time. She took a lot of abuse from the children at school–children can be very cruel when you have scars or disabilities. The kids would look at her scars and not sit by her or choose her as a partner.
I would always buy turtleneck sweaters, and shirts and dresses with high necks that would cover up her scars. I would always tell her how beautiful she was; this would always put a smile on her face.
Going through this has made Stephanie very heroic and a very strong individual. I will always admire her.
When Stephanie was 7 years old I asked the doctors about surgery, and I was advised to wait a few more years. At the age of 13 Stephanie had the first of four surgeries for her burns. The type of surgery she had involved her having balloons implanted into her chest and having weekly injections into the balloons, in order for her skin to stretch. This is another reason why she is my hero. I know it was very painful for her, and she was very brave. The surgeries went very well. Stephanie’s scars on her face have completely healed–by looking at her you would never know she was burned. The keloid scars on her chest have been totally obliterated, and now there is just one scar left from the reconstructive surgery. Stephanie can now wear the clothes she has always wanted to wear.
Through all of this, Stephanie has been a model student. On May 21, Stephanie graduated from West High School, in the upper 10 percent of her class. She also works at an elementary school four days a week as an educational aide. Stephanie does everything she can to make sure they are on task in and out of school. She is a role model for her students. Stephanie has received many awards all through her high-school career. She will pursue a major in biology/pre-med and a minor in biotechnology. She plans to become a neonatologist.
