Sarah's Story

What Happened?

After enjoying a few too many beverages at a house party, I sat down on a bench near a fire pit – or at least I thought it was a bench. Turns out it was an iron frame that was a part of the fire pit, and after about 8 hours of the fire burning, it had conducted an extreme amount of heat. So much so that when I sat on it and stumbled trying to get up, I suffered full-thickness contact burns to around 18% of my body.

My Treatment & Recovery Journey

The days and weeks that followed were easily the most difficult of my life. For those who have endured it, I do not think I need to describe the pain of the showers. For those who haven’t… well, I’m not sure I can.

All of that said, from the moment I entered Fiona Stanley until the moment I left, the care that I received was phenomenal. Not just physically but also mentally and emotionally. The team of nurses that took care of me day to day made me laugh, supported me when I cried, pushed me when I thought I could not do something, and did all of it with genuine care and patience, getting me through those tough times. When I left the hospital after a month, I cried. I was scared to leave and was scared of not having the safety of the experts who had taken such good care of me.  

The weeks following my discharge from the hospital had FSH Burns nurses coming to my home to continue my care; when I was able, I returned to the hospital every few days for showers and dressing changes. All the while was doing physio sessions to regain my strength and mobility and OT visits for pressure garments, massages (not the relaxing kind) and silicone treatments.

My Life Now

Kintsugi - A Japanese tradition which uses gold to fix something that has been broken. This technique is used to repair breaks or damages by filling them with gold, which in turn makes them stronger. This celebrates the adversity rather than making it something that needs to be disguised.

I recently celebrated my 5 year “Burniversary” and did so by having gold painted onto my scars. I wanted to remember that although (and probably because) I experienced severe trauma, I am stronger than I ever was before.

I can never thank Dr Wood, Dr Douglas, D1 & D2, the OT team and rest of the nurses enough for what they did for me. I try to repay as much as I can by volunteering for a number of research projects. The Burns team work tirelessly to innovate new treatments and extend their knowledge and skills of treating burns, so the very least I can do is spare a little time to help them achieve this. Plus, every time I return to Fiona Stanley and the Burns ward, in a small way it feels like I’m returning home.

Image Gallery

Image for Examples of deep partial thickness burns.
Image for Examples of deep partial thickness burns.
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