Beauty is more than skin deep for burn victim

“If you look different a lot of times people aren’t as accepting of you, but God made this happen to me for a reason,” says Angelia Bullard.

Angelia had worked as a nail tech for 28 years.  She was carrying a tray of acetone when she passed by a lit candle. “I didn’t know anything was wrong until my client said my hair and uniform were on fire. I dropped the dish of acetone and the whole room and me went up in flames.”

Angelia rushed to get clients and her coworkers out of the shop.  She felt guilty that she had caused an accident and wanted to make sure everyone made it out safely, even helping people get their purses. 

“I was the last one out the door.  I had no idea how serious my burns were until I got outside.  They were on a third of my body – my face, chest, arms, hands and feet.”

She spent two and half weeks in the hospital on a trach, disorientated and unable to walk or talk.  From there she was transferred to DMC Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan (RIM) where therapists managed her burns and got her walking and talking again.

“The most important thing that RIM did was give me confidence.  I felt ugly and was upset by the way people would look at me.  But they helped me get past all of that.  They helped me heal on the outside and in.” 

Angelia feels it’s important to support others.  Once a month she attends RIM’s burn support group where she talks with burn patients and tells them life is going to be different but different isn’t bad.

“By the grace of God, it could have been a whole lot worse.  I thank him for giving me the best doctors, my family and strength to get through this.”