Burn Injuries: How they can happen

I thought I would give you all some insight to burn injuries and how they happen.
For my family we were in a house fire. My son, K, was able to get my mother out safely; then he came around to my window and got me out. Last he was able to put his little sister, MeiMei out on my bed covers. Then he helped me across the street to the neighbor's home away from our burning house while we waited for the firemen to arrive.

My family had access to excellent medical care. No costs were spared. No life-saving surgery was withheld. No limited care based on what my family could pay BEFORE I was cared for or MeiMei was cared for. We both had some very bad burns. We both had an extended stay in the hospital Burn Unit. We are BOTH Survivors. Some burn injuries happen because one cannot get out of a burning building. This is how MeiMei and I were injured.

Some injuries occur because of an appliance malfunctioning. This is how MeiMei's best friend was burned... A lamp fell on her bed with her in it. Friend survived and has many more scars than I or MeiMei. My mom was burned by boiling water when I was little. She had blistered skin on her stomach. Another burn injury my mother had was when I was a young mom to K and her radiator blew the top and scalded her face, again some second degree burns.

Car wrecks, kitchen accidents, house fires, wild fires, electrical fires, lightening strikes, all can have a burn injury attached to them. Most people have had a kitchen burn where one has bumped a hot pan or the stove removing a pan. Those hurt. However; imagine for a moment that tiny burn being on 50% of your body  Or 75% of your body. Imagine if one can, the burn not being red or blistered, but charred. That HURTS.

When the babies/children are burned in China, I really do not know how those happen or why. I can only suppose what happened by the way the children have their scars. Many of the kids I will feature here have facial scars and have lost most it not all their hair. This leads me to believe they were scalded from above. Somehow they were in an unsafe place while their first mom or grandma was cooking or washing laundry.  The adult may have tripped and doused the child. The children's hands being involved and fingers contracted tell me the reflex of guarding the face was the child's automatic reaction to being doused. Arms being burned and contracted in the same way makes me think the child was trying to protect their faces. Legs and feet burns, especially when the children are babies, leads me to think the burns happened because a glass baby bottle was too hot and it then exploded on the baby/child.   The younger the child, the more I do feel these burn injured babies and children are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were very likely a treasured child and healthy, other than the burn injuries.

Seeking medical attention is something I feel, every parents would do. I know my mom did that for me and MeiMei when we were burned. In China, payments comes BEFORE treatments. Many times the first families are peasant families and cannot pay. They have no way to obtain basic medical care for their burn injured child. They, then have to make the choice of, "how do we help our child? how will we help them heal?" and the lists goes on. I feel for the parents having to make the choice to abandon their child so the child can be helped and healed.

Burn injuries can be scary. The bigger the injury the scarier it is to think the person will recover. I did. MeiMei did! It takes time, lots of surgeries and therapy to regain what a burn accident steals from each person. Most of all, once the injuries are healed, scarring remains. Precautions for being out in the sun have to be used. Sun screen, hats, glasses  and long sleeves/pants all help. Compression garments/masks to keep the scar tissues from becoming raised all go along with healing when a person has burn injuries. This is just a part of what I have experienced as well as MeiMei... but the results are worth it. Not everyone sports their very own "patchwork skin" or "lizard skin" as my nephew calls my 'waffle grafts". :) 

I am proud to still be here to help teach others about burn injuries and how those injuries can be helped and healed. 

In conclusion, when out and about seeing a person who is scarred, don't be "afraid" of them.  Smile.  Say, "Hello".  Ask how they are and if curious, ask about their injuries.  Bet that person will tell you what happened.