My Story
October 26th, 2002, the day my life would change forever. It was a crisp, Autumn day up in Muskoka, Ontario. The day for the most part went about as usual; raking leaves, playing with the other kids, running around carefree and just enjoying life as any other 9 year old would. However, little me did not have the faintest hint at what would happen later that day and quite frankly that life changing incident and the next 5 weeks have remained as a blur to me and although I cannot remember every detail following the incident, I do know how I felt; scared, in pain, and distressed. I remember having the feeling that the floor was lava and constantly being afraid of it until I finally told my Godmother who assured me that I was safe, there was no lava and I was going to be okay. Looking back at it all, I realize that I was very lucky to have had my family's unwavering support through it all and I now know how hard it was on everyone.
It happened before dinner, while the adults were chatting around the table, the kids were all playing tag. I had tagged one of my friends and began inching backwards so that I wouldn't be tagged back. I felt something poke into my calves and I immediately lost my balance after which I remember falling backwards into something. I had let out a blood curdling scream which my mother describes as a scream from someone being attacked by a bear. What I had fallen into was a large pot of soup which had previously been sitting above the fire for the whole day. When I had fallen, I actually fell in a way where I was sitting in the large pot, and just as quickly as I fell in, I lunged myself out of it. I remember the first person who sprung into action was my dad who I remember seeing running around the corner to get to me.
The moments in between the incident and the fire fighters arriving were pure chaos. There was a lot of commotion from frantic adults and children all trying to figure what the hell just happened and trying to help me until the ambulance came. That time period waiting for the emergency responders, felt like the longest wait ever. It was the fire fighters who got to me first and I remember them carrying me over to the bathtub to pour a solution over my legs. I remember them being very tall and comforting, they even got me to smirk, I don’t remember what they said but I remember how they made me feel, comforted, and for that I am so grateful. After that, the ambulance took me to the nearest hospital, where they pulled off all the dead skin, I didn’t even realize they had done this until much later when my mom told me. I was then airlifted to Sick Kids Hospital where I would spend the next 4 weeks.
At the hospital, my family and the nurses and doctors were amazing. There was definitely a lot of pain, but I had my morphine button that helped…just never fully. Luckily, in my mind I can’t visit the pain that I felt in the hospital, just the memory of how uncomfortable I was. I had 3 skin grafting surgeries, which they warned me what my skin would look like before. They said it would look like a fish net because they would stretch the skin to cover more area.
There were many changes to my little 9 year old life, I remember hating taking those baths for dressings at the hospital, they were incredibly painful, and after not standing for weeks I had lost the ability to walk since I had not used my legs since the incident. The silver lining in forgetting to walk was that I could experience what it felt like to learn to walk. Luckily, my mom was there to see it and we cried and laughed together. After 5 weeks at the hospital I was able to go back home and I remember seeing the new set up in my room where another bed was put in so that my mom could sleep in my room with me.
I had to wear tights on my legs for a year so that the grafted skin could properly fuse onto my legs and of course, I was itchy all the damn time.
As I write this, it's been 18 and half years since that night, but it has shaped me and I wouldn't be the person I am today without having gone through what I did. I've slowly come to appreciate the hard lessons it taught me, and continue to take apart and put back together the ways in which it affected me.
Through pain we learn the most about ourselves and the world around us. Embrace each challenge that comes your way, whether tiny or life altering, as it can be an opportunity to grow.
