Acid-attack model says scars are marks of survival

LESS than four years ago, Katie Piper’s diary was full of modelling and television assignments and the opening of a burns unit at a Yorkshire hospital would never have figured on her list of engagements.

But yesterday, the 28-year-old, whose life was shattered in 2008 when sulphuric acid was thrown in her face, spent several hours with former and current patients at Sheffield’s Northern General Hospital.

Miss Piper was invited to officially unveil the hospital’s renovated burns unit after setting up the Katie Piper Foundation, which aims to help people who have suffered life-changing burns injuries.

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As she drew back curtains to unveil a plaque, Miss Piper said it was the first time she had ever been asked to open a hospital ward, but afterwards paid tribute to medics who work with burns victims.

Meeting patients Rachel Taylor and Alison Carr, Miss Piper revealed how she now saw her scars and those of others as “something positive” and a “mark that you have survived”.

She added: “I think I have had something like 115 separate operations and I am at the end of most of that, but I still have difficult days where I feel down.

“But I am in the fortunate position now of being able to meet people who inspire me every day through the foundation and it is great that people have agreed to talk to me here today.

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“Long-term we would like to set up a rehabilitation unit for people to go to, where they could share experiences and have treatments that can help them move on with their lives.

“At the moment we have forums on the internet so people can share their stories and concerns and we run workshops on things like camouflage make up and hair transplants.

“It’s been a really fantastic day and it’s been wonderful to meet all of the team here.

“I know how much of a team effort it is to treat burns patients and the teamwork going on here is really evident.”

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The Katie Piper Foundation has a link with Sheffield in that its chairman is Simon McCabe, who is also a director of Sheffield United FC.

Its patron is Simon Cowell, the man behind the X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent.

Miss Piper has already been the focus of one television documentary and yesterday she and the patients she met were filmed by Channel 4 for a follow-up programme.

Mrs Taylor, 26, of Swinton near Rotherham, is still undergoing treatment for facial burns which she suffered when a garden chiminea exploded.

She thanked Miss Piper for visiting Sheffield and the unit.

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The GP’s receptionist said: “We were in a neighbour’s garden on a cool evening in April 2010 when someone poured some nitrous methane onto the fire.

“It exploded and I was the only one injured.

“I spent three days in intensive care and was an inpatient on the unit for three weeks and the staff here have been fantastic in helping me and my family through the treatment.

“My daughter Emma, who’s four, wouldn’t come to me at first because of the mask I wear, but we have got over that and she has been able to ask questions about the treatment and the unit has been brilliant.”

Sergeant Carr, who works for South Yorkshire Police in the Hillsborough area of Sheffield, also told how the unit had been part of her life since she was burned 17 years ago.

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The 38-year-old, who lives in Rotherham added: “I was in a car accident when the petrol tank exploded and I was sitting over the top of it. I was admitted to the intensive care unit and was off work for six months.

“Even though it was all that time ago I am still on the system here and I still keep in contact with some of the staff, who have worked here since then.”

The newly-renovated unit has six beds and patients have access to three specialist burns consultants and a 25-strong nursing team.

The unit, which caters for a regional population of about two million people, has seen 150 inpatients in the last year with 464 new outpatients and 1,269 follow-ups.

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The chairman of Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, David Stone, said: “The burns unit is a state-of-the-art facility that supports the leading specialists we have here. We are proud of the work it is doing in providing care for patients from across the region.

“It has been wonderful to have Katie Piper here to open this unit and to hear about all the work she is doing to support other burns patients and their families.”