WHAT should have been a fun evening with friends, turned to disaster when a Friendsgiving bonfire exploded, leaving Natalie, from Meridianville, Alabama, with second and third degree burns and a long road to recovery - both physical and mental. As the fire got low her friend poured gasoline on the fire and when it exploded both Natalie and her friend were badly burned. Natalie remembers all the moments after the explosion: dropping and rolling, her friends’ parents running out to the yard, paramedics tending her and the helicopter airlifting her to hospital. She didn’t call her own parents until she was in the helicopter and it was only when she went into surgery that she passed out. Spending the next three months 24/7 in bandages, Natalie saw snatches of what her skin looked like underneath during the dressings so by the time she finally got to see herself in the mirror, Natalie didn’t recognise her own reflection; the worst burns were on her neck and chest and her hair was shaved from surgery. Once she got home, Natalie started to understand what had happened to her and the long road ahead. In the end only 3-9% of her burns are classified as third degree burns, (on her neck and chest area). Her other burns are second and first degree. However, Natalie regularly goes in and out of hospital for skin grafts. She has had liposuction to even out the skin on her legs too. Before the accident Natalie says she was like any 16-year-old who cared about their looks and enjoyed makeup. After the fire, just going out in public was extremely hard for Natalie. But after posting a video on TikTok about her accident and recovery, Natalie gained an online community of burns survivor friends and family who ultimately encouraged her to not hide her burns scars. Now, age 18, Natalie is not letting her burns hold her back, starting with revisiting the site of the fire for the first time since the accident. Natalie graduated from high school this year and is getting ready to attend cosmetology school in the fall.
https://www.instagram.com/natalieskyye/?hl=en
https://www.tiktok.com/@itsmypersonatalie?lang=en