Learn how in the blink of an eye Cayte’s life changed forever.

Four-year-old Cayte is just one kid whose life was devastated by burns. Her mum, Tammy, told us how, in the blink of an eye, Cayte’s life changed forever.

A little over a year ago Tammy and Cayte were making a cup of tea when Tammy had to leave the room just for a second. That second was all it took for disaster to strike.

Cayte decided to take a closer look at the kettle. The little chair that she normally stood on was broken, so, quick as a flash, she grabbed her little bike, stood on it and reached across to the kettle of boiling water. The bike moved, Cayte slipped and fell, bringing the kettle of boiling water down all over her. Tammy told us:

“I took one step and there she was, covered in boiling hot water from the kettle. Her dad grabbed her and put her in the shower for several minutes before we all bundled into the car for a mad dash up to the hospital.”

At the local hospital in Mount Morgan, Cayte spent 20 minutes standing under cold water, as the doctors and nurses there tried to cool her wounds down. But it was painfully obvious to Tammy that her little girl had been very badly burned. The staff at Tammy’s local hospital agreed. Looking for guidance, they consulted with the team at the Royal Children’s Hospital here in Brisbane.

After some quick thinking, surgeons confirmed that Cayte should come to the Royal Children’s Hospital in Brisbane for treatment right away. The whole family was rushed into a helicopter and flown here as quickly as possible.

Within an hour of arriving at the Accident and Emergency department at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Cayte was in the burns unit being attended to by our best doctors.

In a gruelling five-hour operation, Cayte received full skin grafts to her shoulders, armpit and right leg, using ‘donor’ skin from her left leg.

After a week of recovery, all the plastic was removed, and Cayte’s burns were wrapped in plain dressings.

Today, if you met Cayte, you’d never guess that she’d been through such a trauma just over a year ago. And you can tell Tammy’s just bursting with pride about her little girl:

“She is doing fantastic! She is gearing up for school and can’t wait. To look at her face, you wouldn’t even know she’d been burned. She is healing really well. If someone asks me who my hero is, I tell them my four-year-old daughter. She took everything in her stride and handled it all about a million times better than I did. Cayte was amazing.”

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