A teenager has shared how she was left with third-degree burns on her left leg after she fainted and landed on a wallpaper steamer.
Ciara Hughes, from Dublin, was just 16 years old at the time when she was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery.
Tragically, while in hospital, she caught MRSA, also known as necrotizing fasciitis, which prevented the burn site from healing and meant she had to be isolated for days.
Now 24, the burns survivor is sharing her story of recovery to give hope to others and to raise awareness.
“I was stripping wallpaper with a steamer and fainted,” Ciara told http://NeedToKnow.co.uk .
“The steamer hit the ground first and I landed on it.
“When I woke up, I jumped off the floor but didn’t realise what had happened.
“After a few minutes of me complaining about how painful my leg was, my mam pulled down my tracksuit bottoms and couldn’t believe her eyes.”
Ciara and her mother, Pamela, 56, hurried to their local GP, who was also left in shock at the severity of the injury – sending them straight to the hospital.
The seriousness of the situation had not yet hit home for the pair.
It wasn’t until the doctor pulled Pamela aside and told her to pack a bag for her daughter as the teen would likely have to remain in hospital for a while, that reality sank in.
Ciara said: “I couldn’t sit down, so I had to lie on my back in the car with my legs up.
“I must have shown the burn to about 40 different nurses in A&E, and I fainted again from the pain while I was there.
“Then the doctor came and explained that I had an electrical third-degree burn and would need emergency surgery at 7 am the next day.”
Ciara had skin graft surgery but life-threatening complications arose two months later.
She said: “The nurse who did my dressing changes noticed parts of the graft wasn’t healing.
“At my next hospital check-up, it was decided that I had to have another skin graft surgery.
“I was absolutely devastated.
“While in recovery from the second operation, I was told that I had MRSA and that was why my graft wasn’t healing.”
“Because of the high spread risk and risk of further infection, I also wasn’t allowed any visitors.
“I was scared and in physical agony, and on top of that, I was incredibly sick from the MRSA and the antibiotics.
“I was crying on the phone to my parents.”
The MRSA took around five days to treat, with Ciara booked in for physical therapy as her injuries had affected her so badly she was not able to walk.
She also had to have dressing changes every two days for four months.
Ciara was in hospital for a further two weeks and “begged” to go home.
She said: “The hospital stays were rough because I was just a kid in the burns unit.
“Every other patient was an adult and the nurses treated me like an adult.
“I had lost all sense of normality and looking at my peers on social media living their normal life seemed so far away from my reality.
“The visiting hours were strict, one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening.
“I was just a kid, in pain, weak, sick, bed-bound not being able to move and honestly I was terrified because I didn’t know what the future looked like and I couldn’t see the finish line with this injury.
“I never knew another burn survivor so I didn’t know if I would be OK.
“Doctors told me I killed every layer of skin, all my nerves.
“They told me they took my skin grafts from the same leg as my burn so my limited mobility would just be on one leg rather than two.”
Ciara hopes that sharing her story brings comfort to other burn survivors.
She said: “In the beginning, I didn’t have a positive outlook at all.
“I’m proud that I have been able to turn that around and focus on the positives.
“My burn has impacted my life in so many ways.
“It impacted my education – I missed three months of school and when I did go back it was hard to focus on anything but the extreme pain I was in sitting down.
“I had a crutch to help me walk but I walked visibly slower than my peers who really showed up for me offering to carry my bag or give me notes from things I missed.
“That whole school year was a challenge trying to catch up on school work, keep up with the current work all while recovering.
“Getting into college was a massive achievement for me considering the hurdles I faced.
“College meant change and the change triggered panic and anxiety in me that I never felt before – this led to me being diagnosed with PTSD.
“Two years on from my accident and I had never once dealt with the emotional trauma of my burn.
“Today, it’s a continuous thing I work on.
“Over the years I struggled with my scars and rarely wore clothes that would show them.
“I’ve been called ugly and told I’d be so much prettier without ‘that’ on my leg and it used to destroy me but every year I get better at accepting them and dealing with the stares and comments I get from them being on show.
“A burn injury is a life-long injury.“Recently I’ve been experiencing some problems with my burn and tightening of scars.
“I went back to my burn team last month and will be starting laser treatment soon along with a few other procedures for increased mobility and scar revision.
“This was a good lesson in healing because I assumed I was finished with the physical recovery but healing isn’t linear.”
In a bid to accept her changed look, the young woman took part in a photo shoot, which she says she is “really proud of”.
Ciara, who has healed enough to begin playing football again, said: “It signified a big moment of acceptance for me.
“Social media is incredible for connecting burn survivors.
“There’s a whole community ready to take you under their wing and give advice and support.
“I’m here to remind other burn survivors that no matter where you are in your journey: please be kind to yourself.
“You’re strong and resilient.”
