the book the journey back by priscilla cummings

#THE BOOK THE JOURNEY BACK BY PRISCILLA CUMMINGS SKIN#

More than one year after the accident, Kelly's mother was surfing the Internet and found Cummings' book, just in time for Kelly's 12th birthday in October. From then on, she was back to the routines of middle-school life learning to play the alto saxophone and landing a lead role in her ballet class. She went back to school before Christmas 2000. Schooled, Kelly changed her mind when she stopped at school and classmates asked her to show off her mask. Like her fictional counterpart, Kelly learned that the answer lay in her acceptance of herself. 'She wondered, 'Are they gonna think I'm weird or are people going to see right through it to me, the real me?' ' 'She had this dilemma with the mask,' says Booth of her daughter. Then in November the doctor told them Kelly had to wear a clear plastic face mask for 23 hours a day, every day for at least a year, to reduce scarring. She returned home to be tutored by one of her teachers twice a week during the day, while every night her mother massaged the scar tissue on her face to smooth it out.

#THE BOOK THE JOURNEY BACK BY PRISCILLA CUMMINGS SKIN#

Her head had to be shaved, and the doctors took skin from her scalp for the surgeries. Her eyes were swollen shut for four days, and she endured skin grafts on her face. She suffered second- and third-degree burns on her face, hands and hair.Ī month in the hospital followed. That's what put out most of the fire on her body, though the paint on her face kept burning until a neighbor threw a bucket of water on her. It exploded and set Kelly and one of her two friends ablaze in an instant. Then someone - Kelly doesn't remember who - threw what she thought was an empty can in the fire.

They were spray-painting signs for a playhouse. The first days of school were in session but she and two girlfriends embraced what was left of summer by playing unsupervised outside a friend's home.

The book the journey back by priscilla cummings