Going through treatment – Skin deep

Transcript

[Different young people talk]

At the first hospital Wagga base, they had to take a lot of pictures. They said that I was the first child they'd seen smile, even though they're in a lot of pain.

I've had about 20 something surgeries and I had to do occupational therapy especially on my hands because they were burned. Because as you grow, the burnt skin doesn't really grow as much with you.

I couldn't even roll off a bed to begin with and that wasn't great. So first I had to learn how to sit up on my own, which was very difficult. And there was a challenge of actually being able to stand up and then walking.

Looking ahead, it's a very scary road because you are gonna be every year missing out on school, missing out on playing sports, missing out on doing just general kids stuff.

Probably the lowest moment would probably be that first little while, especially after I got out of hospital and I got quite mad a lot of the time, and kind of took that out on my mum I think. She had to, you know, bath me and do all the bandage changes and try and get the pressure garments on, which can be difficult because they're so tight.

You're gonna hate them, but they'll be good for you. They'll be difficult to put on, but they'll be all right once you got them on. And also they do stretch.

The biggest thing is that they're really hot in the summer. So I actually had this vest thing, which would get frozen and it had isol in it and that was the best thing in the world in the summer.

They'll tell you not to scratch, but they won't tell you what to do. Now it's best if you just press on them because it helps.

If you do the exercises and you do the stuff properly, you'll see fantastic results.

And also moisturizer and sunscreen are your friend.

Frankie, he's been through like everything with me. He's scared, like bandage stuff and went in the operations and mum used to have to take him out, but I didn't know that.

It's okay to be scared, like it's honestly okay. Don't just block your emotions out, like, I think it, if you bottle it up it's not healthy and you have got to know that these guys are looking out for you and they're not gonna do anything, that they haven't told you about.

You feel very alone and it's not good to feel that way. And of course you have the nurses and all that and they're great, but they have stuff to do and they can't always be with you. You're gonna need all the support you can get.

The hardest part was actually the psychological stuff, like kind of registering what had happened and what it meant for the future and stuff.

Just don't be afraid to ask questions. There's no, no such thing as a silly question. Even if it's something that's pretty common and you're not sure about it, just ask it.

It's really good to celebrate the little victories.

Sometimes I hate them, but in a way, I love them too because they make me, me.

I was burnt when I was 7 months old. So I have never known any other life other than being burnt and going through these treatments so it will be tough. It will be tough, no doubt. But you have got to rise above it. You don't, you can't let it consume you.