Horrrific burns girls looking for help with emotional scars in US

TWO girls who suffered horrific burns are to become the first in the country to try out an American treatment which will help to heal their emotional scars.

Bianca Saunders, 16, and Bryany Naylor, 13, are going to the Angel Faces retreat in California to help them come to terms with their injuries.

Bryany suffered burns to her face and body after a cooker accident in 2002. She was given specialist care at a burns unit and still needs further surgery after countless operations.

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The youngster, from Leeds, said: “It will build my confidence so I won’t worry about my burns and put myself down.

People always call me names and I’m short of temper so I just lash out. I just wish I’d never been burned.

“When I meet people I always think ‘what are they going to say about how I look?’”

Bianca, also from Leeds, was nine when she was hurt in a blaze caused by a candle, leaving her with burns to her neck, chest and stomach. She was in hospital for several weeks and had two operations.

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Bianca, who is studying health and social care at college, said: “I have got really low confidence. Certain things worry me and I suffer panic attacks.

“People might say they understand but in the back of my mind you don’t think they do.

Businesswoman Pam Smith, of Wakefield, who is raising money to send the girls to California, said: “The retreat is a wonderful thing. It’s dealing with what’s inside and the stares and comments. We are hoping that, if it works, there might be an opportunity to set up something similar here.”