Little girl who suffered horror injuries after falling into a DEEP FAT FRYER has relearned to walk
Mia Schley had a terrible accident which left her with third degree burns covering 60 per cent of her body
A LITTLE girl who suffered horrific burns after falling into a deep fat fryer has overcome her injuries and can now play sports.
Mia Schley, now five, was left with third degree burns after tripping over an extension cable into a fryer filled with boiling hot oil.
The then three-year-old was left with third degree burns covering 60 per cent of her body and had to be incubated for a month while on heavy drugs to numb the pain.
Weeks later she had skin graft surgery to take skin from the backs of her legs and cover the areas of her body with burned skin.
Her mum Ainsley, 25, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, feared that she would be bullied at school because of her scarring.
Ainsley said: "When I saw her body all of her skin was gone - I could see she was burned from head to toe.
"It was the worst sight you could possibly imagine on your own child.
"Her hands were burned the worst, they didn't have very much skin left on them.
She explained the horrific accident happened after Mia woke up from her nap at her grandparent's house.
"She ran outside, tripped over an extension cable and fell towards the table where my family had been deep frying chicken wings," Ainsley recalled.
"The oil was at its hottest point. When she tripped she pulled the table and dumped all of the scorching oil over her face, neck, hands and the majority of her body.
"When I found out what happened I froze in place not knowing what to do.
"I raced back to my mum's and as I pulled up all I could hear was my daughter screaming - she was frantic and in a lot of pain."
Related Stories
Mia suffered burns to her face, neck and torso but the worst affected area was her hands - where most of the skin had been scorched by the hot oil.
Mum Ainsley said: "The first time doctors unwrapped her hands she was crying and screaming, she was terrified of her own hands.
"Since then it's slowly recovered - her face healed on its own, there is scarring on her legs and you can see the difference in colour between the skin graft and her normal skin but it's fading slowly.
"Over time Mia's got used to them though and tells everyone she can that her scars and burns are beautiful."
Two years on from her horrific accident, Mia now leads a normal life just like any other child her age after being signed off from physical and occupational therapy a three months ago.
She has relearned how to walk and write and can even do ballet and play sports.
Her mum said: "Nothing stops her, she went through a lot of physical therapy but now she runs everywhere.
Ainsley was concerned that her daughter's burns would ruin her life, leaving her emotionally traumatised and embarrassed, but the little girl amazed her.
She added: "I worried she would look at herself as ugly or less of a person because of her burns.
"I feared they would define her but she's so strong and is still just as confident and cheeky as she was before.
"Since her accident she's overcome so much and now even plays in sports teams, so I'm sure that her burns won't stop her from doing anything - she really is my inspiration."