A brave girl named Isabella
Focus on what's happening now. Don't stress about the future.
A rollercoaster then and now
Our five months at the Burn Center with Mark were often overwhelming. In my book Forever Fly Free, I called that time “the rollercoaster.”
It’s a relevant description for where we are today – a rollercoaster of daily headlines full of uncertainty and fear.
The rollercoaster at the burn center was related to Mark’s constantly changing condition. He had 3rd degree burns on 85% of his body. When you lose that much of your protective skin barrier, you’re susceptible to dysregulation challenges. Unstable body temperature, fluctuating blood pressure, internal organ stress. It can lead to sepsis, infection and kidney failure.
A good day was when his vitals were stable and nothing much happened.
How I survived
Friends and family ask me how I got through that time. Because Mark was in a medically induced coma (burn injuries and treatment are so painful), I needed to be strong for him. I had to make important medical decisions for him. I couldn’t let him down.
The way I saw it, I didn’t have a choice but to take care of myself. I worked out regularly. I tried to eat well. I read uplifting stories about people and life. I found a guided meditation app that helped me sleep because anxiety was always just around the corner. I poured my heart out in updates to our private platform of five hundred family and friends.
My friends Stanka and Branko sent me an Italian cookbook, knowing of our love of Italy and Mark’s passion for cooking. I read recipes to him every day, allowing myself to drop into a feeling of our happier times together. Hoping in his murky underwater coma state that Mark could sense the positive energy. The fragrant smell of lemons in the air, the waft of a gentle sea breeze as we floated on our backs on the Mediterranean, the burst of magenta bougainvillea in the stone villa gardens dotted along the coast.
Isabella – One courageous girl
During our time at the burn center, I met three ordinary people who deeply inspired me. They are all burn survivors who are thriving today.
Isabella McCune was nine years old when she was in a terrible firepit accident at home. The fire burned 65% of her body. She spent 9 months in burn center ICU, enduring 109 surgeries. How does anybody endure that? Least of all, a child. Twenty years ago, she wouldn’t have survived.
Like Mark and all severely burned patients, she was placed in a medically induced coma. The pain from a burn injury and treatment are too much for a human being to tolerate. Bella, as she’s called, developed a close relationship with Dr. Foster, her doctor. She trusted him. She believed she would get better.
A few months into her time at the burn center, she insisted on being taken off intubation. She wanted to be conscious in spite of the pain. Bella would softly sing Taylor Swift songs to herself as she gradually came out anesthesia during her dressing change. Replacing old bandages with fresh ones regularly prevent the ever present danger of infection. Its a grueling 3 hour ordeal.
Tragically, an infection caused a 3 month delay and she had to be put back in a coma. Eventually, after multiple tries and many surgeries later, her new skin grafts “took.” Taylor Swift heard about her story and was so touched, she visited Bella.
A year after Bella left ICU, I was at the burn center with Mark when she and her mom stopped by. The nurses introduced me to them. It had been a year since she left ICU.
Bella’s presence is hard to miss – she’s a sprightly kid, a ball of energy in constant motion. Her mother mentioned that Bella was about to go back to school and needed to decide what sport to play. She’d been a gymnast before her injuries. Bella shouted to us, “I want to play tackle football!” as she hopped and skipped down the hallway.
We all have it in us to endure, recover and be happy again
In her interview with local Phoenix 12 news (see link at end of this article), she says:
“Don’t really think about what could happen. Think about what is happening so you don’t get any more stress about what will happen in the future.”
Wow. How many of us adults could learn from Bella’s sage advice?
Dr. Foster, her doctor said he didn’t know where Bella’s resilience came from. He said he wished he could bottle it.
Whenever I think about my own challenges and tough times, I think – if a spirited nine year old girl can endure what she did, surely each of us can find the grit, determination and the belief that we will pull through. To heal from whatever we’re going through and to thrive again.
Read Bella’s story here: https://www.dmgaz.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/A-Doctor-A-Burned-Girl-276-Days-in-Hospital.pdf
Watch Bella’s interview with Channel 12 Phoenix News: