‘Vain girl’ who suffered 85 per cent burns to her body in a New Year’s Eve fire says she’s glad it happened
Danielle Branch, 30, now says that she is glad that the horrific fire she was caught in happened - because it's "restored her faith in humanity"
A SELF-CONFESSED "vain girl" who took pride in her curvy figure and long locks, suffered third degree burns to 85 percent of her body, after being ravaged in a New Year's Eve inferno.
However, Danielle Branch, 30, now says that she is glad that the horrific fire she was caught in happened - because it's "restored her faith in humanity".
And she credits a personal visit from Katie Piper, an acid attack survivor, with helping her come to terms with her new life.
Speaking about her ordeal for the first time, Danielle, from Maidstone, Kent, revealed how her stepdad, private hire taxi driver, Jez Clark, 56, was blown out of their caravan by the blaze - just hours before the clocks struck midnight.
The cause of the fire still hasn’t been determined.
Danielle and her mum, housewife Janet Clark, 53, managed to clamber out of the burning vehicle – despite the soles of Danielle's feet being scorched off.
As revellers across the country rang in 2016, Danielle, who was a sales account manager before the accident but now doesn’t work; lay unconscious in a hospital bed.
Doctors at London's Royal Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, where she was airlifted by Kent Air Ambulance, put her in an induced coma, in a bid to save her life.
Needless to say, it was a far cry from the New Year's Eve Danielle had planned with the caravan club she'd been a member of since the age of nine.
RELATED STORIES
She said: "We all meet up on New Year's Eve and have a big party with music and food.
"I've known them for years and they're like an extended family."
Danielle says that when she finally saw her face for the first time in mid-March, she was mortified.
She said: "I didn't realise how badly I was burnt, I thought the scars would fade.
"When I looked in the mirror for the first time I was horrified – it was worse than I imagined."
However, her attitude began to change after joining acid attack survivor Katie Piper's foundation and speaking to other burns victims.
"It restored my faith in humanity," she added.
Now, this New Year, Danielle will make no resolutions – she's content feeling lucky to be alive.
Danielle frankly said: "Before the fire, I used my looks to get what I wanted.
"Now I realise it's what's inside that counts."
Danielle was fast asleep when her family's motor-home, parked in fields in Addington, Kent, started to smoulder on December 31, 2015.
Woken at 8.30am by the overpowering smell of gas, she recalled, "I screamed out, waking my stepdad up.
"He saw I was on fire on my legs, arms, face and hair and rushed to open the door."
The rush of oxygen caused an explosion and he was blown into the fields.
In agony and burning all over, Danielle and her mum managed to crawl out from the, fighting through the flames as they fled.
Danielle tried rolling on the grass to extinguish her burning body, but her skin was badly burnt.
"The soles of my feet had come off and were painful, but I didn't realise how bad the rest of me was," said Danielle.
Other members of the caravan club called 999 and one kind stranger gave Danielle a cardigan - as most of her clothes had been singed off.
One of the family's dogs, two-year-old Poppy, a cockapoo, survived but tragically their eighteen-month-old pup Layla, also a cockapoo, perished in the explosion.
Rushed to hospital, Danielle remained in an induced coma until March 1.
Meanwhile, her mum and step-dad were taken to Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, West Sussex.
Her mum had third degree burns on her right leg, which was treated with a skin graft, and a first degree burn on her back.
Jez meanwhile had second degree burns on his wrist.
Single Danielle, underwent multiple skin grafts every few days for a month, with surgeons grafting skin from her belly, left thigh and bum cheek to go over the scars left by her burns on her face, arms, back and legs.
But it was when Danielle finally saw her reflection for the first time in mid-March that the true horror of what had happened began to sink in.
She said: "I was given a mirror by one of the doctors. They prepared me by saying I was badly burnt and had a counsellor present in case I needed to speak to her.
"What I saw was horrible. I'd lost my eyebrows and eyelashes and had no hair.
"I felt isolated and alone – like no one would understand what I was going through."
Her windpipe was also damaged from the breathing tube that helped her breath during the coma and she couldn't talk or swallow.
On April 7 she was released to her parents' house in Maidstone to recuperate, but still had to undergo rehabilitation and learn how to walk again.
She is still unable to extend her arms fully and her mum has to dress her.
She also has sores on her arms from the breakdown of her skin grafts – which must be dressed with cream and bandages.
But Danielle's biggest battle has been coming to terms with her looks.
Having been used to turning heads with her prettiness, she initially struggled with showing her new face to the world.
She said: "A few weeks after I came home, I went to the fish and chips shop across the road.
"An older lady took one look and me and said, 'What happened to you, you look a mess'.
"It really knocked my confidence. I thought it was what everyone was thinking, but she was the only person brave enough to say it."
But at the end of April her outlook changed when, Kate Piper, who had suffered horrific burns after an acid attack, heard about Danielle's plight.
She visited her house and shared her experiences about coming to terms with her scars.
Danielle then attended a weekend away with other burns victims - thanks to the Katie Piper Foundation.
She said: "I realised how lucky I was to survive and have all of my fingers and toes.
"So many people judge a book by its cover.
"I used to rely on my looks, now I'm just thankful that I'm a decent person."
Danielle is fundraising for the Kate Piper foundation. Click to donate.