Apologies if I get this information incorrect, Katie Piper modelled for catalogues and magazines, presented television programmes and had dreamed of a full-time career in the media.
On March 31, 2008, Katie was savagely attacked when her vengeful boyfriend, Daniel Lynch, organised an accomplice, Stefan Sylvestre, to hurl a cup of industrial-strength sulphuric acid into Katie's face.
She was left with terrible 'burns' (although from a little research, I don't think it's actually a technical burn, the acid eats away and dissolves skin along with most other substances) that left her permanently blind in one, damaged her oesophagus, leaving her unable to eat.
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| The shocking attack can be seen on CCTV as Katie Piper (on the right), is attacked in broad daylight. |
Her attacker ran off on foot as she was left in agony, screaming and managed to seek help at a local store who called an ambulance. She had to wait over an hour, enduring traumatic pain because the ambulance did not know what substance she had been attacked with and/or how to deal with it.
So serious were the injuries that Katie’s surgeon at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, Mohammad Ali Jawad, resorted to pioneering techniques. In a single operation, the first of its kind ever to be performed, he removed Katie’s entire face, used a skin substitute, Matriderm (which provides a ‘scaffolding’ for grafts), to rebuild its foundations, then grafted skin from her lower back and buttocks on to her face.
After the operation, she was put into an induced coma for 12 days and kept in intensive care. Her weight plummeted to six stone and she had to be fed via a tube in her stomach.
Katie has since underwent many regular surgeries and, almost always, wears a tight plastic mask that she wears to flatten her scars and minimize scarring.
A documentary was filmed called "Katie Piper: My Beautiful Face" detailing her story, attack, medical treatment and the aftermath and consequences of the whole ordeal. I found it to be a very eye-opening story, more so than almost anything else I have watched previously, and it really brought home that beauty really is skin deep, something I (and almost all other) teenagers, especially, obsessive over compulsively.
Katie, if you ever read this - thank you for being such an inspiration and getting through this entire ordeal with grace, dignity and extraordinary courage and bravery! Of all celebrities I've written about to date, I'd rather meet you out of the lot of them!
I'll close with this quote:
‘I was fortunate to have a good surgeon and together with the correct aftercare I’ve achieved results that exceeded even my expectations,’ she says. ‘Although, yes, I’ve been scarred for life, I am extremely happy with my new beautiful face.
Follow Katie on Twitter.
(Credit to this Daily Mail article, as I lifted a few paragraphs directly from it + sourced my info. Image from listown.com.)
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