A young woman was left with horrific burns on her buttocks when she fell on a scalding radiator pipe following an epileptic seizure.
Charlotte Beeton, 27, of Southampton, suffered an epileptic seizure while washing her hair and landed onto the radiator pipe which then exploded, covering her lower body in boiling water.
Her fiancé, David Channel, 28, rushed in after hearing her fall and was able to move Charlotte to safety. But she was left with first and third-degree burns across her bottom and required five hours’ worth of skin graft surgery, with the skin being taken from her thighs.
Charlotte spent three weeks in the hospital recovering from her ordeal. She has now decided to share her images for the first time in a bid to raise awareness of the injuries people with epileptic can suffer during seizures.
She said: “I was washing my hair one minute, and the next I was looking up at several paramedics.
“As I had damaged all the nerves in my bum due to the extent of the burns, I didn’t feel any pain at first.
“I was transferred from Southampton General Hospital to Salisbury District Hospital as they have a specialist burns unit.
“Once I realised that I needed surgery I began to panic.
“I was diagnosed with epilepsy aged 13 but had never suffered burns before.
“After the skin was taken from my thighs and placed on my burns, I spent a further three weeks in hospital which were some of the worst weeks of my life.
“I was in agony even though I have a high pain threshold. It was nothing like I had experienced before.
“I couldn’t lie on my back and needed the bandages to be changed regularly, which was excruciatingly painful.”
“It affected my mental health as it took a while to accept the scars across my lower body,” she said.
“I have never shown anyone, other than my close family and friends, the graphic images of my accident before.
“But I have decided to share them now to show others the severity of injuries caused by epileptic seizures can be.
“The radiator pipe I fell on wasn’t faulty, but as my unconscious body fell on it, it moved and began spraying out water.
“I’m very lucky that I was moved to safety as it could have been a lot worse.”
Charlotte is on medication for her epilepsy, but still has clonic tonic seizures every three to four months.
She said: “I don’t know what triggers my seizures but I have them every few months. I’m so grateful that my fiancé, David, is so supportive.
“I can’t live independently as I’m at too high of a risk of injuring myself.
“I hope my story raises the profile for epilepsy as, even though it’s not uncommon in the UK, there’s not enough research into medications.”
