Aleema Ali suffered severe burns to half her body and lost seven fingers after lice shampoo caught fire on her head when she was 12. Now, nine years later, she is studying at university and preparing to become a counselor so she can help people with similar traumatic experiences, she reports
“When my hair started burning, my mother started screaming. At first I didn’t understand what was happening because only my hair was burning, so I didn’t feel any pain. Then I saw my reflection in the window and I stood there motionless in shock,” recalls Aleema.
The flames quickly spread to the scalp. “Suddenly I felt excruciating pain. When the paramedic put me in the ambulance, I screamed for him to put me to sleep because I couldn’t bear the pain. The next thing I remember is waking up six weeks later,” she adds.
Aleema, who is from Bradford, UK, was home from boarding school for the Christmas holidays in December 2016. She discovered she had lice and her mom applied medicated shampoo. When she wanted to throw the package in the trash, she passed by the stove that was on. The preparation was extremely flammable and her hair immediately burst into flames.
At first she did not realize the seriousness of the situation. Only when she heard her mother’s scream and saw herself in the reflection did she understand that her head was on fire. The fire spread along the entire length of the hair to the scalp. Her sister, who was eight months pregnant at the time, also ran to the scream. She pulled Aleema out of the house. The girl passed out from the pain for about 30 seconds. The presence of mind nurse took the jacket of a random courier and managed to put out the flames.
Paramedics immediately took her to the hospital. She suffered burns on half of her body, lost seven fingers and underwent daily surgeries during her hospitalization. She was in a coma for six weeks and spent a total of nine months in the hospital.
“My parents told me not to look in the mirror because I looked completely different. They helped me prepare for the worst. When I finally looked at my reflection, it wasn’t as difficult as I expected because I had already imagined the worst case scenario in my head,” says Aleema.
After waking up, she had to relearn how to walk, talk and eat. “I felt like I was back in my childhood, like a baby,” adds. After returning home in August 2017, nurses took care of her for another six hours a day. She was educated at home for a year and started a new school in September 2018. “It was very difficult to come to a new school when I looked completely different from the others,” admits.
Today, he is 21 years old and studying counseling at the university. He is still undergoing operations and recently, doctors transplanted skin from her groin area to create earlobes and allow her to wear earrings. He also shares his story on social networks, where he openly talks about life after a serious injury.
“Even after nine years, I still have bad days. When people stare at me on the street, it’s hard, but I’m learning to deal with it. This accident made us a lot stronger as a family and taught us to be more resilient and open,” Aleema concludes. Despite progress, he still has trouble with some normal activities. However, every day he takes small steps forward and inspires others with his strength.
