Stephanie Browitt, de 23 años, perdió a su padre y a su hermana cuando el volcán de la White Island en Nueva Zelanda hizo erupción mientras realizaban un viaje de un día desde un crucero.
Krystal, su hermana, murió en la explosión mientras que Paul, su papá, falleció un mes después. La tragedia de diciembre dejó 21 víctimas fatales.
Entre las víctimas que sobrevivieron se encuentra Stephanie, de Melbourne (Australia), quien comenzó a documentar el doloroso camino de la recuperación a través de Instagram.
Funnily enough, when I found out my fingers had to go I wasn’t that upset. I think I was grateful that I still had my hands because when the eruption happened, I remember seeing my hands and realising how bad they were. My nails were hanging off, skin in shreds and also peeling off and they were black and red in colour, (blood/ash). I was told they were one of the worst burns to hands they had ever seen. So I was extremely grateful it was just my first 2 joints of my fingers being amputated. What I didn’t realise was, how much that would actually effect my function and fine motor skills. You really don’t realise how much your body does for you until you lose the ability to do so. As you can see my L hand has a lot more range, the thumb can open up wider and nearly touch my pinky. My R hand is my bad hand, the fingers can’t bend / straighten as much and the thumb can only just make it underneath my other fingers. Future surgeries will happen but I’m getting as much from therapy as I can first. Seeing the progress with my hands definitely makes my day, month and year though! Although it’s slow it’s such a big deal for me. I saw photos of my hands when I was first admitted to hospital to compare them to now and I can honestly never be more grateful enough towards the surgeons at The Alfred. They put so much care into my hands with my skin grafts and they’ve healed amazingly. I look forward to seeing more progress and achievements everyday. #whiteislanderuption #whiteisland #survivor #progress
La joven quedó con el 70% del cuerpo con quemaduras de tercer grado y estuvo a punto de morir. Debió someterse a varias injertos de piel e incluso tuvo que aprender a caminar nuevamente.
Según Stephanie, sus piernas tardaron en volverse a cubrirse de piel y eso retrasó las tareas de rehabilitación motriz.
In February I was still having skin grafts/surgeries done in hospital. One of the last places to receive skin were my legs because I didn’t have any spots left for them to take from, so they had to wait for my donor spots to heal so they could take more again. My legs needed multiple surgeries before they were fully covered, so I’d be up and walking (sort of) and then I’d need another surgery and I’d be set back all over again. It was really upsetting. I had another surgery on my legs and they took some skin from my thighs and behind my knee cap. Let me tell you, the donor sites are the most painful things I’ve ever experienced. One of my favourite burns nurses told me after I woke up, “You’ll be walking in 2 days.” Me being in so much pain angrily said, “Nope.” She goes, “yeah you will,” and walks off. 2 days later and it’s time for the much dreaded Physio. I have 2 of them helping me lean on my side and slowly stand up using a walker. That takes about 15 minutes, I’m already in tears from the pain and just wanting to be done. Then they want me to take some steps... because skin was taken from behind my knee I couldn’t bend my leg. I had slowly taken a few steps and then the burns nurse comes into my room and says, “I told you you’d be walking!” My pain turns to frustration. “No. I don’t want to do this! I just want to disappear! I wish I could just hide somewhere ahh!” All the while I’ve bolted from my room out into halls to get away from everyone and she shouts, “Just remember you have to walk back again.” I slowly make my way back and try to hide my smile because of how I just surprised myself, still in pain. Once I’m back the nurse tells me, “I could just see the determination in your eyes as you got annoyed at me,” while holding back a cheeky laugh. Honestly when I think of this moment it makes me laugh so much, but it also taught me something. Determination doesn’t always look the same in different situations. And even if you don’t realise it, it’s always there inside of you. You can do anything as long as you don’t tell yourself the opposite. I didn’t want to do physio because it was so painful... but when they came around I never said no.
