2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15
On September 30, 2016, Courtney Waldon was preparing a meal on a campfire with her partner, with whom she had been married for two months. The 27-year-old mother was distracted on her cell phone watching Facebook when her husband got up to fan the fire with a little gasoline.
Suddenly, the young woman felt that gasoline fell on her body and ignited in flames.
"I stopped, fell and rolled while screaming. I thought I was dying, "he told People. “My hands burned so bad because I was trying to put out my face. I felt every inch of my flesh was burning that night."
Waldon, who is the mother of a 5-year-old girl, miraculously survived fourth-degree burns to her face and third-degree burns to her limbs. "[The paramedics] said that if the ambulance had arrived a minute later it would not have succeeded," he recalls. "I started praying to God in the ambulance."
After being in an induced coma for 30 days and adding 51 days in the hospital, he returned home and to his family. But soon he would face another tough challenge. Two weeks after her return, she found the devastating news that her husband had abandoned her.
For Courtney, her little daughter Caroline is her reason for living. The young mother recalled the moment when the little girl first saw her after the accident. When I got home, she looked at me like a stranger. But I barely said, 'It's me, my baby. I am your mommy 'she ran towards me and has not released me since then”.
With a new perspective on a second chance at life, Courtney sees her situation - and even separation from her husband - as a blessing.
"There was a hidden blessing," says Waldon. “I think if [my husband] was around, I would be leaning on him. It would not be as strong as I am today and I would not have made as much progress.”
Because Waldon is disabled, a Go Fundme page has been created to help with her expenses. For now she is living with her parents who have not left her side since the accident.
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