I am Sarah – Skin deep

Transcript

I live in Laidley, which most people probably don't know about. Somewhere in between Toowoomba and Ipswich, right in the middle.

Person from the news, he sort of had covered the story of me, and everyone in Laidley all knew about me, so they're all just like, oh my God, you're okay? I'm like, I have no idea who you are, but thank you! Great!

My house burnt down and I was in it. The fire started while mum was asleep and I was asleep and I tried to crawl out the window, but I didn't quite reach it and I passed out. I don't remember any of it. I don't really remember the beginning. It was a bit of a sort of a blur. It was a lot of just waking up and falling asleep and remembering little bits and not sure what was real and what wasn't. Kept waking up and not being, not sure whether who was alive and who wasn't, what had happened, who was okay, and so they had to keep reminding me.

It's really good to celebrate the little victories. I couldn't even roll off a bed to begin with. And that wasn't great because one, you want to use it toilet on your own, and that will be one of your biggest achievements. If you haven't done that yet, you will love it when you can. It'll be amazing.

You don't think about just walking and stuff and how hard it is to do before you have to try to redo it again. So first I had to learn how to sit up on my own, which was very difficult. But, eventually I did it and, and there was a challenge of actually being able to stand up and then walking.

My mum was reading to me and that helped. Like even though I sort of didn't quite register what she was saying, I sort of, it was something to focus on and to listen to that was different. My mom couldn't stay with me most, well some of the times because she had to go home obviously and do things and you sort of, when you're alone, it's, 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 feel very alone and it's not good to feel that way, and you're gonna need all the support you can get. I know you're not gonna maybe want it at the time or, but it will help.

When I first saw it, it was sort of jarring because I was like, "is that me? is this a fake mirror? what's going on? ".I sort of panicked, because they've been telling me all about it, but you sort of don't really realise until you look.

They will look a lot more like you and you'll feel like they're you, and you'll get to a point where they just argue. When you get back, your friends are gonna want to know about your burns a lot. They're probably gonna ask a few questions or worse, which I found worse for me was when they didn't ask, but you could tell they wanted to because they feel awkward and I feel like they shouldn't. And it's sort of a, I don't know, a social, don't ask. Just stand there and smile.

My friends were great because they sort of, they understood sort of, well they didn't understand at all, but they tried to give leeway. Some of them were very nervous about hurting me all the time, and I'm like, I'm fine, whoop.

They sent lots of these letter things and I have a thing about fandoms, being a fan of things like Dr Who and Lord of Rings and things, and so I love those and so they sent me quotes and things. And it says "A day may come where the strength of men may fail, but that is not this day". I was happy to hear it because it was such a strength giving thing and to have sort of something to look at and be like, I'm gonna get through this because you know, at least it's not a million Orks with fire blades chasing me. So, you know, could be worse.

Find something to laugh about. Even if you don't think you can just be like, ask, think of everything under the sun until you find something funny. And if you can't, then ask everyone else.

Pressure garments. 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.

I suppose you'll see things differently to what you did before. You'll see it through different lens. You'll see people differently. You know the thing, the little things that you see and the little memories and everything. You sort of get more grateful, I suppose.

I suppose they're just part of me now. They're just, you know, every day they're annoying and all, but so is your hair when you can't do it properly.