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Christmas Message from UK Acid Survivor, Katie Piper
Katie Piper raised awareness of the life of an acid survivor in her UK documentary, My Beautiful Face. In the documentary she spoke about the tragedy and her fight for life. However, it was the response following the airing on Channel 4 and the public response it stimulated that changed Katie, giving her a wealth of confidence to move forward. As she says in her message: “All these letters… have given me so much confidence, a massive amount of confidence and changed the way I am living my life and I really hope that it can show other people that these aren’t just for me; these are for everybody who’s feeling the way I once felt”.
Message on Channel4, from Katie Piper:
‘‘This year I wanted to give a Christmas message to everybody out there who might have had a Christmas like I did last year. In March 2008 I was attacked with acid and left fighting for my life. I was at an all time low, too scared to leave the house. I didn’t see how things could ever get better
Pre-attack I would come home on the 24th, have a few drinks, see them, spend Christmas Day with them chilling out and go home on Boxing Day.
My life before was very self-absorbed, self-obsessed and it took a tragedy for me to reassess my life and how I felt and what I thought was important.
Don’t wait until there is tragedy in your life. Don’t wait until you lose somebody.
Don’t wait until it’s too late. Appreciate the beautiful things and the beautiful people that you have in your life now.
Earlier this year I decided to make a documentary telling my story.
The night before it went out I was so nervous, frightened that when people see me they might think that I was a freak. Overnight my life changed completely.
I was able to move forward instead of looking back.
To see that over 200,000 people have posted encouraging, loving messages of support on the internet, it’s just simply amazing. It’s such a great feeling to feel so supported by people.
All these letters… have given me so much confidence, a massive amount of confidence and changed the way I am living my life and I really hope that it can show other people that these aren’t just for me; these are for everybody who’s feeling the way I once felt.
My Christmas message would be to tell people that I used to hide away and be ashamed of how I looked, frightened of people’s reactions and if people are doing that or feel that way now, I would urge them not to because they don’t have to feel like that and you can become accepted, you can regain the confidence.
And for the people that need to do the accepting, that maybe they freak out when they see somebody who’s different, you absolutely don’t have to.
Even when you think things can never move forward and you feel so low there’s always a way out and I never thought that I’d be sat here saying this, never.”
Watch now by clicking here.
Posted on December 25th 2009 by Rajpreet Sandhu in Blog
Comments (4 so far)
Thank you Katie, all these words, these lines, mean more than you can eve imagine, it is important to share hope, to share life…
It basically mean, it is worth being human!
Our survivors will appreciate it…
Added by valerie Khan yusufzai on 26th December at 6:47 PM
Katie, Thank you so much for sharing your story. I have endured several health and family tragedies over the past several years and seeing your courage and determination has helped me “pick myself up” and recover. Thank you and may God bless you.
Added by Bob on 9th January at 2:43 AM
Watched your story last night, truly inspiring! You are an inspiration to many people, not just burn victims, but anyone for that matter - including myself! You are beautiful, both inside & out! My best wishes!
Added by K.M on 10th January at 1:19 AM
Hi Katie,
I saw your special recently on 20/20. You have left an unforgettable place in my heart. You ARE (not just were) so beautiful!! Please know that. You are without a doubt, the strongest, most courageous, loving woman I’ve ever gotten to know (through your TV appearance and website). Watching you endure the emotional and physical pain that you had to go through was heart wrenching. I thought of how vain I use to be and wonder if I could have gone through what you did when I was 24. Honestly, I don’t think I could have been as strong as you. I was obsessed with my looks and my body image. But now I’m 51 (a very cool and hip 51, mind you! ha ha). Thank God, growing older has a way of making us realize that our physical bodies are not what really makes us beautiful anyways. As I know you already know,that. It’s always been about what’s on the inside of us. Our journey here on this Earth is so brief. I don’t know if you believe in reincarnation, but I heard someone say that this lifetime we have now is only one day (maybe only one moment) in the life of our soul. What a gift your life is for the rest of us, Katie. I’m so glad you hung in there. And I will continue to follow your life on your website and TV and watch you use your life to help others, as you already are. Keep smiling that big, beautiful smile of yours. God Bless! Love, Kim (Akron, Ohio)
Added by Kim Bowling on 13th January at 8:00 PM