Hi, you are “face to face with Shell”.
Please watch this video and read on for more information:
WOULD I TAKE MY SCARS AWAY IF I COULD?
Probably not…!
I hear you say: “WHAT”???
I was fifty percent burned when I was thirteen years old; I received first through to fourth degree burns. My right hand was injured the most; I lost parts of my fingers and part of my little finger was amputated a few years later.
My right hand now (taken in 2018).
Chris (my husband) was wiping away hair dye from around my neck and arms. He kept wiping one bit over and over at the top of my arm, I told him that it was a scar and could not be wiped away. He asked: “Why is there stuff coming off then”? It was obviously hair dye. We both laughed and I said that it would be funny if we had invented a wipe that took scars away…I said that we would be millionaires.
I then said that if there was such a product, I don’t think that I would use it…
I know, you are probably thinking, wow, she is crazy. To be honest, my scars are a part of me. They don’t define me anymore. There was a time, in the early years that I did let them define me but not now.
I have lived with them for so long, I would miss them. I know that this might not be making a lot of sense to you if you have been newly burned/disfigured and I can understand that. If someone had said to me in the early years that they could take all my scars away, I would have jumped at the chance.
I think you have to go through a process, which eventually ends with acceptance of what has happened to you and acceptance that your scars are here to stay. Yeah, sure, there are surgeries/procedures that can be carried out to make them look better but basically, they are what they are.
This is not an easy process, I know and everyone will take their own time to accept what has happened but you will get there.
I have come to accept them [my scars] and be happy in my own skin.
If you are at the start of your journey, I can understand that you will be thinking; “no way, I would take my scars away in a heartbeat”. I would have been the same at the start of my journey.
I think because I am thirty-five years into my burn journey (this being 2019) I have gotten used to my scars and feel very comfortable with them. Of course, I wish that I hadn’t been burned and gone through all that I did, I just think that I have made peace with it all now.
You will too, you will get there. Yeah, I am not saying that it is easy and I’m not saying that I don’t have “down” days but you will get there.
I have came across this TED Talk, it really hit home…please have a look:
Stay strong…remember YOU ARE AMAZING!
We’ll chat soon.