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From Burn Victim To Valedictorian
posted (June 7, 2016)
23 year old Danay Chavarria was almost burnt alive 18 years ago. She was at a BBQ when her a relative accidently started a fire. What happened at that house changed Chavarria's life forever but surprisingly, Chavarria told us she is happy for the experience because she wouldn't be half the person she is today if it hadn't been for that. Here is Danay's story....

Danay Chavarria, Burnt Victim
"My fellow graduates, let us continue to grow positively. Let us engrave our marks of accomplishment in the history book of WJC so that others may be motivated to build their selves, build our communities and build Belize."

Courtney Weatherburne reporting
Those were the final words from Danay Chavarria's Valedictorian speech. She graduated from Wesley College on Saturday May 21st with an Associate's Degree in Information Technology.

It was a proud moment for Danay's mom and entire family to see her get her diploma and her awards. But for the Chavarria family, this ceremony goes beyond the honour and recognition, beyond the sleepless nights of studying and researching and beyond the daily sacrifice and demands of academic life. This accomplishment highlights Danay's tragic story and also celebrates her remarkable resolve and strength to survive. And that story began when Danay was 5 years old. She was a happy child, a brilliant student and a loving sister. Danay and her older brother were inseparable. But in 1998, Danay was almost taken from her family after a horrible fire that burnt 67% of her body.

Danay Chavarria, Burnt Victim
"On August 9th, 1998 I was 5 years old at the time, my cousin invited us over for a cook out. We all went, my aunt, my other cousins, my mom, my dad was at a football game in Belmopan for my brother. When we were there, my cousin and I were playing outside and my mom was inside making food for the BBQ. My cousin in law was intoxicated at the time, so basically what had happened was that he went to get some gasoline, because he didn't have any kerosene and the gallon was a couple feet away from me. When he stroked the match, the fume ignited the open bottle and created an explosion. I was basically enveloped in flames."

Julia Chavarria, Danay's Mom
"I was inside helping out my cousin, we were doing tortillas for the BBQ. It was like a couple minutes when we got to the house that this happened. Danay was playing with her cousins, they were on the porch playing when all of a sudden I just turned around when I heard this explosion. I saw Danay engulfed in the flames and I asked myself 'what's going on'. My cousin was taking a shower at the time and we got her toweled. My sister in law went outside and got her from me while I was getting the towel and we pat her down because she was totally in flames."

This bushy cement structure on Faber's Road is what remains after that 1998 fire. The explosion happened here on what used to be her cousin in law's veranda. Luckily Danay's mother and aunt put out the fire that was consuming Danay's little body and got out before the fire destroyed the entire house.

Julia Chavarria, Danay's Mom
"We took her through the back, because we couldn't get through the front of the house. I was carrying her, wrapped in the blanket, to take her to the back of the house. I went on the road and a cab was there, he told me to get in the vehicle and he drove us to Karl Heusner while Danay was crying and in pain asking for her dad."

Danay Chavarria, Burnt Victim
"I could recall me ripping my skin off because it was hurting and burning. I'm just there pulling my skin off and there's this girl in the front seat and she was just fortified. She was 5 years old and I know she was dramatized seeing me rip my skin off, I could see it in her face and I was thinking 'why is she looking at me looking at me like that?'. We arrived at the hospital and all I could remember from then was that they put me on the bed and I saw my cousin in law in the other room, because he got burnt on his leg too. He just looked at me and I looked at him and I was in so much pain. Basically the nurses gave me some medication to relax me and while I was there I lost my legs because of the due to the lack of the knowledge of the hospital, they didn't know much about burnt injury so that happened. Within 30 hours I was there, if I spent any longer in Belize I wouldn't be here right now."

And from the KHMH she was taken to the Shriners Hospital for Children in Houston Texas. That began Danay's long journey of treatment, recovery and rehabilitation where she had to learn to do everything all over again.

Danay Chavarria, Burnt Victim
"They flew me over to Texas and when I got there they did what they needed to do. All they told us was that they had done everything they needed to and all we had to do was wait and see what happens. They put me in induced coma, they sewed my eyes shut so that the liquid from my eyes don't dry out so I don't get blind. My kidney was collapsing, my lungs were failing, but within a day or two they said I was starting to get back stronger. My lungs were getting better because there weren't much smoke in my lungs so that was good. I spent about 2 months in the hospital, my mom was there, my dad, aunt and uncle always visiting every day. After the 2 months I was released and I stayed at an apartment about 5-10 minutes away from there and I stayed there a lot. Every day I had to come in to get my dressing changed, rehab, physical, and they do rehab as well for.... Rehab was an experience, as a kid at 5 years old, you believe that you could do certain things but when get burn, your whole body gets burned you can't move at all. So basically I had to start over, start to eat again, brushing my teeth, learn to walk. I remember when I got my first set of prosthetic legs, they told me quote 'I hated my legs' because our skins are very sensitive. Trying on the legs really irritated me and I'm not used to it, so it took me about 2-3 months to get used to my legs. Afterwards I still didn't get used to my legs but I did walk, I did learn to balance just by them pushing me every time. They always pushed me, I threw tantrums and they still pushed me, but I'm just thankful that they did because I would not be walking right now and not doing a lot of stuff that I am doing right now."

Courtney Weatherburne
"What was it like to have seen your baby on the hospital bed burnt knowing that you couldn't do anything for her, you couldn't even touch her?"

Julie Chavarria, Danay's Mom
"I tried to get close to her but the nurses said I can't until they could get some sanitized garments for me to put on. That's when they put on the cap, gown and gloves then I was able to get in the bed and hold her because she wanted comfort. For the pain they gave her some relaxer but that's about it. She kept awake the whole time she was here before she was taken abroad. But it was very traumatizing because, in the emergency room my son came in at the same time and he saw her. Somebody had to take him outside because he could not speak, he just stared like 'what happened to my sister?' but it was very hard."

Courtney Weatherburne
"Did you ever think that you would lose your daughter?"

Julie Chavarria, Danay's Mom
"I have, I think it was a lot of prayers and us keep on hoping for the best because that's all they said we could do. She was really in a critical condition and it was a lot of prayers from all the family, the support. The doctors reassuring us to keep on talking to her because she could hear us even though she's in a coma she can hear us. That's what we did every day."

And Danay also held on to that hope, and after those 6 challenging months at the Shriners Hospital, she was released and brought back home to finish primary school at St. John's Vianney. That began another phase of Danay's life.

Danay Chavarria, Burnt Victim
"I felt like a celebrity, they crowded me. They knew it was me even though I had on my mask and I was in a wheel chair, they heard my voice and went like 'oh that's Danay'."

But as she got older in her teens, the harsh reality set in that she would live with these scars forever. Danay told us that it was a Texas camp experience that helped her accept herself.

Courtney Weatherburne
"How was your social life during your teenage years coping with friends, possible boyfriends, how was that experience for you?"

Danay Chavarria, Burnt Victim
"You know in that stage of puberty you question a lot about life, like why this and why that. When I started to do that I did go through a depression stage questioning everything. I started thinking to myself that I shouldn't think about the what if's, think about the now. There's this camp called Camp David in Texas. My first time being there, I would sit down and watch all the burn survivors at the pool. I would think 'oh they have long sleeve shirts on', no they were in their bikinis, short shorts, the dudes with all their shirts off and they got burnt more than me. That opened my mind up more saying why would I care about what people think about me? you can't hide from it. You have to just 'alright so I got burnt, so what?' I wouldn't call my friends my friends if they said 'because you got burnt I don't want to be around you'. Yes I have dated in high school but it wasn't really something I cared much about, I always cared more about school, so I was more focused on that. But the camp really opened up my eyes when it comes to acceptance. I love my scars, I believe these are my personal tattoos, each one of them have a different story."

Courtney Weatherburne
"After the accident, did you in any way hold any anger or resentment towards your cousin in law?"

Danay Chavarria, Burnt Victim
"Honestly I have nothing against him, nothing at all. It was an accident, first I did thought it was on purpose, but I grew from that a lot and just accepted the fact that I happened and I have nothing against him at all. I forgave him, I know he was intoxicated he'll do a lot of stupid things when they're drinking, so he wasn't thinking clearly."

Courtney Weatherburne
"Going through what you went through at age 5 and throughout all these years up to now with the medication and rehab sessions, it's difficult for anyone and as you said it was very difficult for you. But where did you get that immense strength and confidence to move on?"

Danay Chavarria, Burnt Victim
"It's just my will that pushes me. I just have a lot of goals I want to accomplish before certain ages, so that's basically what pushes me. Just seeing the kids, my parents pushing me, the hospital they want me to be out there, to use my voice, because people are inspired by me. They say with all I have been through I still have the same confidence, I'm always chilled, I always take one aspect out of the day and let that be something uplifting for me."

Danay's strong spirit and positive outlook didn't just help her heal from the trauma of the fire, and motivate her to excel but it will continue to carry her through for the rest of her life.

Danay Chavarria, Burnt Victim
"I don't want to live like someone that's regretting all the time. I want to move forwards. It's all about moving forward for me."

Danay will leave this week for the US to get reconstructive surgery. But as you saw she has come to accept herself and is living a normal, productive and rewarding life.

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