A woman who suffered severe burns to the majority of her body when she was a baby has spoken out about being proud of her scars and is fighting back against bullying.
Tianna-Joy King from Adelaide, Australia, was trapped in a fire as a baby when her cot caught alight. A nightlight plugged into a faulty socket burst into flames, engulfing her and burning 69 per cent of her body.
Just fourteen months old at the time, Tianna-Joy spent over a year in hospital, six months of which in a coma. The tot lost all of her toes and the heels of her feet and so much of her skin was burnt away that her bone was fully exposed in some places. She also suffered severe damage to her lungs her windpipe was almost completely destroyed.
At just fourteen months, Tianna-Joy suffered severe burns to 69% of her body (mediadrumimages/@firebaby.94)Now 29, Tianna-Joy, who now uses a wheelchair and experiences severe pain when she walks for five or ten minutes, recounted the incident. She said: "I don't remember anything from the fire itself. When I think about it and try to remember I always see myself crawling on the floor on fire from a bird's-eye view. I'm not sure if that's because I had an out-of-body experience when it was happening or if my mind has just made up this image.
She continued: "My mum has told me that she woke up to a house full of smoke early one morning and couldn't find me anywhere. When she opened my door she couldn't see me through the thick black smoke. She saw flames moving along the ground. This turned out to be me crawling out of the fire while on fire."
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She spent a year in hospital and six months in a medically induced coma (mediadrumimages/@firebaby.94)The electrical fault resulted in her entire bedroom engulfed in flames and she has had to undergo over 100 procedures and surgeries since the incident to treat the injuries her injuries. Soon, she will have another operation to close skin that has opened on her foot. If it fails, she could potentially face amputation. She explained: "The fire caused up to 69% of my body to be burned, with the majority on the bottom half of my body in 3rd and 4th degree burns.
"I've stumps for feet. I can't walk any longer than 5 to 10 minutes without being in pain. Too much walking either takes the skin off the bottom of my feet or causes serious fatigue in my bones. I'm in and out of a wheelchair a lot of the time. I struggle with infections at least three or four-times a year."
Over the years, Tianna has had hundreds of procedures and operations to treat her burns (mediadrumimages/@firebaby.94)Praising her mum for the support she has given her throughout her life and when times were more difficult, Tianna-Joy said: "My mum has been my rock since day one. She's always gone with me to the hospital trips and the doctor's appointments and she's spent 28-yearsdoing my dressings. I wouldn't be surprised if she's more educated than the professionals at the hospital."
Relentlessly bullied as a youngster, Tianna-Joy recalled how other children would make fun of her based on her burns and scars. She recalls that when not being bullied, she was constantly judged by strangers wherever she went. "There's a lot of things people would say to me growing up. They called me things like 'burned potato' and said 'someone needs to burn your house down again with you in it'. Now it's more people being curious, with kids or people in general staring and asking questions. It's the adults that should know better."
Now, Tianna-Joy is showing other people that scars are nothing to be ashamed of (mediadrumimages/BridgetteCollins)But she has refused to let the years of torment get to her or her sense of self-worth and has been working with KIDS Foundation, a charity dedicated to empowering and educating children and offering support for those affected by serious trauma, injuries, or burns who helped her in the past come to terms with her injuries and realise she was not alone.
She said: "I am an ambassador and mentor for the KIDS Foundation here in Australia. The KIDS Foundation is my home away from home. Growing up in a small country town here in Australia I always thought I was the only one in the world who had a burn injury. They were the ones who made me realise that I wasn't the only one and that there's so much love and support around me even now as a 29-year-old."
Tianna-Joy also volunteers for KIDS Foundation to help other young people feel confident after suffering burns (mediadrumimages/@firebaby.94)As well as volunteering, Tianna-Joy, who says she is proud of her survival and now of her scars too, also shares pictures online to prove to others that scars don't prevent you from being "beautiful, sexy, and wonderful". She said: "I spent a lot of my 20s hiding my scars and hiding from the world because I was always scared of what people would think and say.
"I think starting a self-love journey and accepting my scars and my body was the biggest obstacle to overcome. I share my journey on Instagram which has also been a big part of accepting myself."
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