In April 2021, a friend poured ethanol on a table heater to make it spark, leaving videographer April Charlesworth, 28, with horrific burns.

She now resembles her former self. Unknown to April and her cousin, an alcoholic bottle lit on fire near the heater and exploded. During the incident, an alcoholic bottle near the heater caught on fire and exploded, burning April and her cousin. Seven percent of her body has third-degree burns, including her face, chest, and hands, and she spent four weeks in bandages in the hospital.

April has to wear compression garments on her face and chest 23 hours a day and have laser surgery every six weeks for her scars. She said: “I have to wear compression garments twenty-three hours a day, they are exceedingly uncomfortable. “They scratch and itch and I can barely breathe in them but the swelling and redness on my chest have already gone down and they are exceedingly helpful.  “I have a plastic mask I wear on my face with holes in the eye, nose and mouth. The compression mask was extremely uncomfortable and suffocating to begin with, so I slept with it on as well. I was struggling to breathe and only managed two to three hours of sleep on some nights.

I have to have the mask resized every two months because the swelling and scars on my face change over time and the mask stops fitting properly. April described how the traumatic incident resulted in her being engulfed in flames and how she managed to escape. ‘I was with my friends at the pub at the time when someone poured ethanol over a table heater,’ she recalled.

“All of a sudden, the fire erupted and devoured me and another friend who was sitting right next to me.