The tips of my fingers are amputated. Also the tips of my toes. It’s hard to believe that such damage could be caused by a little bathwater.
I was scalded the day before my first birthday when I was left unsupervised in the bathroom. I had accidentally knocked the hot tap.
I was scalded in 0.03 seconds. If my mother had been in the bathroom, I would have still endured the 33% scars to my body, which I carry around with me every day.
I made it through my three-month recovery period in Nottingham City Hospital, fighting off two blood poisonings and a life support machine. I was then allowed home at weekends. Home was a weekend vacation, away from the blood pressure machine and cries from the other kids.
I was fed through a tube and the pressure garments were strapped against my burns that covered my hands, feet and right leg. I was creamed three times a day. Bathed at least twice a day.
It was a long recovery. Eventually, the pressure garments came off. My tube was thrown away and the boxing gloves as bandages got thinner.