MY STORY (THE EXPLOSION)

Hi, you are “face to face with Shell”.

BURN SURVIVOR’S STORY

Let me tell you “my story” of how I was burned.

You can either read on or watch the video:

PLEASE BE AWARE THAT I GO INTO DETAIL OF THE EXPLOSION THAT I WAS INVOLVED IN

I was in a gas explosion when I was thirteen years old, which left me severely injured.  Fifty percent of my body was burned; the most affected areas being; my face, either side of my neck, my arms, and hands.  My right arm and hand being the worst; I lost finger tips and my hand is now like a “claw”.  I would spend the next four and a half months in hospital, enduring countless operations and physiotherapy.  I would then go on to have many more operations and procedures over the years.

It was my first holiday abroad and my gran had decided to take my cousin and I to Lloret de Mar, Costa Brava, Spain, along with one of my gran’s friends.

I had been complaining to my gran (who was always going abroad) that our family holidays were always to Blackpool (which I loved and still do) but I was listening to my friends at school and they were starting to go abroad, and I wanted to go too.

I remember the day that my gran said:  “Right, I’ll take you abroad”.  We were standing in her kitchen on a Sunday morning.  BRILLIANT, I was SO excited.

The weeks seemed to drag…but it was getting closer…my mum and dad were buying me new clothes and Pesetas for going (yeah, it was that long ago, the Euro had never even been thought of way back in 1984…lol).

Not long before we were due to leave, my gran said that the travel company had been in touch and that we were to be “upgraded” to a “better” apart/hotel (wouldn’t like to find out what their “bad” hotels offered…lol).

As the day was drawing closer to our departure, I remember my mum telling me time and time again:  “Now, don’t get burned”…hhhhmmmm…lol.  She obviously meant sunburned.

The day arrived; 22 June 1984.  We were all excited and left for Edinburgh airport; well our car did, the other car was on its way to Glasgow…lol.  After a quick turnaround, we were all off to Edinburgh.

When we got to the airport, gran thought that she had lost her passport; after a little panic, her passport was found in the car, let’s check-in.

Still all excited.  We boarded the plane.

It was my cousin and mines first flight…first aeroplane food…meeting new people, chatting to them…all excited.  Our ears hurt on the decent and I remember a woman being concerned for us, as she chatted to gran about it but again, still all excited.

We boarded the bus to take us from the plane to the airport.  I love these; everyone herded onto them, falling about, laughing, and trying to hold onto their carry-on luggage at the same time.

Onto the coach to take us to our apart/hotel.  Now here is where things start to get a bit “weird”.  I started to feel really uneasy.  I started to look at things while on the bus ride with apprehension…I remember looking at a cow in a field, as I was telling myself; “see, it is ok, just like back home”.  The feeling would not leave me.

There was one little boy on the bus that kept turning around to look at me.  He was making me feel even more uneasy.  He never smiled, just would turn around every now and again to have a look at me.

Our names were called and it was time to get off the coach.  Awesome. The apart/hotel looked lovely.

We were told by the receptionist that our apartment was not ready; that the maids were still cleaning it.

I remember we sat down next to a Dutch family…I also remember looking at a man who had just came in from the pool, he was obviously dripping wet and I was looking at the wires that were lying across the reception floor area…this surely was dangerous…my anxiety was not getting any better.

Everyone was in great spirits and I started to join in on the laughs.

My gran eventually got tired of waiting and asked the receptionist how long it would be until our apartment was ready?  The receptionist will always stick in mind, she was blonde and was singing a very 80’s song with the lyrics; “my baby takes the morning train”.                                            

Suddenly our apartment was ready (without any maid coming to say that it was).  I truly believe that we were given someone else’s apartment.

We ventured up the stairs and I can remember thinking that I couldn’t wait to get to the apartment, as my case was so heavy.

There were small corridors leading off the main walkway to the apartments; at the end of these corridors, there was a door at either side.  Our apartment was on the right. I remember saying to my gran’s friend:  “There’s a funny smell”.  It did not smell like gas but there was a smell.  She said that it was probably just the cleaning fluids that the maids had been using.  That statement would haunt me for years to come…why didn’t I make more of a fuss?  Why did I let everyone go in?  You can imagine…

Gran was the first to enter; she tried the light switch, nothing happened.  She then opened the curtains and light flooded the apartment.  I can still see her smiling face as the light hit her…this was the last time I was to see her.  Gran’s friend then entered, my cousin, and then myself.

I was so relieved to put my case down; as soon as I did and straightened up, there was this almighty bang and a huge fireball engulfed the apartment (apparently). The fireball I cannot remember but I gave a statement to the British Consulate (as we were waiting to be flown home) and I told him that I had seen this fireball.

The pain; I actually cannot describe how intense the pain was.  I then went into shock and just kept thinking that it was a dream.

I could not see anything, the room was so dark; being filled with smoke.

My next thought…GET OUT!!!

I saw a figure run past me, it was my cousin but to me it was a little boy and I thought; “I’ll follow him”.  I was so disorientated, I had no idea where I was (although the door was right behind me).

Then, at the end of the small corridor, as I was following the “small boy”, I saw a soldier, standing to attention with his busby on and bayonet, you know the ones that are part of The Queen’s Guard?  I never saw his face…what was he doing there?

Everything was going in slow motion, I remember seeing the blood on my jeans and skin coming off my arms.  I couldn’t stop looking at them or my cousin’s hair (who I now recognised).  I couldn’t help thinking that her hair looked really funny and I wanted to laugh, as it looked as though she had one of those really bad tight perms.

At the same time though, we were screaming for our lives.  I have never screamed for “help” and meant it more.

It seemed like forever until someone came; a man with a fire extinguisher, wow, we were on fire?  He used the extinguisher on us.  Also, a maid, Bless her.  She threw her arms wide to embrace us both.

These people to me are heroes (especially the man) as he ran into the apartment to see if he could help anyone else.  I can only imagine the scene that greeted him.

We were taken by car to a small clinic in Lloret, where we were given emergency treatment.  Later, we were told that it was two off duty policemen that took us to the clinic.  The maid came with us, sitting in between us in the back of the car.  She kept patting my cousin’s leg, probably telling her that everything was going to be all right.  Of course, this was very painful and my cousin kept telling her:  “That’s ******* sore”…lol.

I was too busy trying to get the fire extinguisher powder out of my hair; this was ALL that was bothering me at the time and the fact that I was in too much pain to laugh at the maid patting my cousin’s leg, trying to calm her in Catalan.  Bless this woman…Bless everyone who helped us…not just this day but from each day since.

We have never been able to find any of these people that helped us, believe me, I have tried.  We were told that the man who arrived with the fire extinguisher never wanted to speak of it again and didn’t want to meet us…neither did the hospital staff; the latter I found very strange.  By trying to find these people, I have made other new friends in Lloret, which is awesome.

When we arrived at the clinic, my cousin and myself were separated.  All my clothes were cut off me (I remember trying to undress myself) then, without warning, I was jabbed in the butt with what was obviously painkillers…great…more pain…lol.

The staff were then trying to put what I think was a saline solution on me but I kept running around the room.  I caught sight of my reflection in a glass cabinet, I screamed and ran away, just as the nurse was trying to put more solution on me, of course she missed, and it squirted all over the glass cabinet; something else I found very funny…a “Carry On Film” comes to mind here…lol.

I do remember looking at my very 80’s white shoes that my mum would not let me wear until it was holiday time…I never got these back…devastated…lol.

Unknown to me, my cousin was having a ball of her own.  As our bodies started to swell up, her eyes were closing and she kept asking the nurse if she was going blind?  The nurse, obviously having had enough of the same question being asked and one that she could not understand, answered:  “Si, si”…lol.  So on top of everything else, my cousin thought that she was going blind.  This day was just getting better and better…lol.

I cannot remember much more after that.  I do remember being in the ambulance, which was taking me to Barcelona Burns Unit.  I remember waking up in the ambulance thinking; “wow, this is taking a long time”.  I did and didn’t want to get there…not knowing what was going to happen next.  I knew we had arrived, as I saw the white fence through the ambulance window.

My cousin, on the other hand, was still having a party.  Her ambulance had a puncture and they had not strapped her in correctly; she was falling off the stretcher…lol…her day was just getting better and better.

The last memories I have of that day was being treated by the medical team in the Burns Unit at Barcelona.  My hair was being cut and I was trying to take the scissors off the person that was doing so, telling them that I had only had my hair cut recently and there was no need for it to be cut again.

I also remember pain in my right hand, as one of the medical team cut away some of the skin…they kept turning my face away, so that I could not see what was going on.

They were also asking me where I came from and I remember answering:  “Plean”.  My home; the small village near Stirling, Scotland…I remember the team trying to understand the spelling of it.

I remember seeing a massive blister on my left leg, the blister was where I had seen the blood on my jeans, just after the explosion.

I also remember shouting to my cousin, as she was in the next room (I think).  In my mind, I seen her slumped over a chair but I now know that this was not the case.

I continually asked after my gran and her friend but my queries were never answered.  To be honest, when they did not emerge from the apartment with us, I knew they were gone.

The last thing I remember was the medical team putting a catheter in me.  What were they doing?  I was only 13 and this terrified me.  Luckily I don’t remember much more of that day; 22 June 1984.

We were kept in Barcelona hospital for only one night.  I remember asking the nurse in the morning what day it is was?  I was told that it was Saturday.  “Brilliant”; I thought; “another day to get better”.  The day after we were due home from Spain, I was to go on holiday with my mum and dad.  My dad was the Captain of the Boys Brigade and they were all going to Skegness, and a friend and I were allowed to go as well.  Of course, this was not going to happen for me or my family.

I also remember asking constantly for a drink and being told constantly:  “No”.  I remember telling, I presume a nurse:  “It’s ok, I’ll get up and get it myself”.  Although I could not see, I knew where everything was in the room.  I suppose it is true, when one sense is dulled, the rest kicks in even more.

Some of our family had been flown out to Spain and I got to speak to my mum and some other family members through a telephone; they were not allowed into the room because of the risk of infection.

I cannot remember anything more until we were at the airport.  This is where the British Consulate spoke to me.  I also remember my cousin’s dad coming over and speaking to me, telling me:  “It’s ok, dad’s here”.  I remember thinking; “what”?  Lol.  My mum had to tell him that it was not my cousin he was speaking to.  Fair enough, as we both looked pretty similar…both bandaged up like a pair of mummies.  My mum then spoke to me and said:  “Guess who is here”?  I knew EXACTLY who she meant.  It was Sooty, my childhood bear, who still to this day, sits on my bed.  I was mortified…lol.  I remember telling her to put him away and not to let anyone see him.  I was 13!!!  What was she doing…lol?

We were flown home by an air ambulance from Austria; my mum telling me afterwards that the doctors were very handsome..and I missed seeing them…lol. We arrived at Bangour Hospital, West Lothian, Scotland where my dad and one of my cousin’s sisters were waiting for us.  Something else I missed; we got a police escort from Edinburgh Airport to Bangour Hospital, “blues and twos”.  I cannot remember this at all. 

Now the fun was really about to begin…

Stay safe, stay strong, and we’ll chat soon.

If you would would like to see the next page, please click the link below:

OVERCOMING YOUR DEMONS