Read an Excerpt
Life can change in a solitary moment. In just a breath, a blink of an eye, the potential exists for worlds to come crashing down. The same opportunity exists within a single second, for one to transcend into a state so profound and utterly brilliant it manifests a joy within in us that is genius. One universal truth is that, as humans, each of us has the potential to experience inexplicable suffering and tragedies and as well as unimaginable happiness. You seldom get the choice to avoid great hardships, as they often come without any warning. There are no set limits to the degree and frequency of the adversities and challenges we face. Equally true, there are no set limits for the potential within each of us to create utter bliss and abundance within our lives, no matter how devastating the circumstances.
I know first hand, how life can change in a single moment. Mine came dangerously close to ending at a very young age. When I was fifteen, I was set on fire, from an explosion, in my high school chemistry class. In the midst of those terrifying moments, as the smoke and flames engulfed my tiny frame, I had a near death experience. In a flash my life was teetering between two worlds. To this day, I get chills when I recall the memory of what I experienced. While I was on fire, I could see myself looking down, at my physical body. As I saw myself lying dead in a coffin. My family and friends were at my funeral, surrounding me. They were overcome with grief, sobbing uncontrollably. I could not begin to comprehend how this could be happening. Was my time on Earth coming to an end? As I stood looking down at my family, my heart was wrenched in sorrow. I longed for one more chance to tell them how deeply I loved them. I could not leave this world, with even a glimmer of a doubt, wondering if they would ever understand how much they meant to me. They needed to know I was not leaving by choice.
Suddenly, an angel appeared outside the ring of fire that raged over my body. She smothered the flames with a blanket that she found in closet, outside of my classroom. My prayers had been answered. A Spanish teacher, Miss Robertson, who was across the hall, had heard the explosion from my chemistry class. Not knowing why, she opened the closet door and discovered a blanket.
Grabbing it, she ran into my classroom and bravely fought the flames that were terrorizing my body. She later told me her actions were a direct response, to a voice she heard inside of her, guiding her to run to the supply closet. Without her, I know I would have surely perished in the fire. My classroom was not equipped with sprinklers or fire blankets. I have no doubt in my mind that I was saved by angel.
Now, I would get my chance to reaffirm my love with those that I cherished so dearly. However, this came at a cost that I could never have fathomed. Although I did not die in the fire, I was entering a whole new dimension, which was completely unknown to me: Hell on Earth.
Each second that passed felt like an eternity. The paramedics and firemen arrived within minutes. Fortunately, my high school was just down the street from the fire station. As I was rushed through the hallways, I could see the terror on my classmates’ faces. I could only imagine how the piercing shrills, of my screams of terror, would reverberate for days within the school hallways. It was difficult to make sense of such a tragic occurrence.
If my conscious mind would have had any knowledge of what I was about to endure, it surely would have not have fought so desperately to survive. The paramedics could not give me anything at all for the excruciating pain that ravaged my body. I begged one of them to punch me in the face, anything that would put me into an unconscious state. Although her eyes filled with tears and exuded compassion, she was unable to grant me my wish.
Upon arriving at the emergency room, they proceeded to cut off my jeans, which were seared onto my body. As they cut them off, my burnt flesh was also ripped away. It would be five more hours before I was administered any pain medication. Even then, the morphine did very little to ease my pain. My saving grace came when I finally succumbed to exhaustion, and was able to fall asleep.
My life still remained touch and go for the forty-eight hours that would follow. Although I did not realize it at the time, my body was filled with toxins. I was at grave risk of dying from blood poisoning. Deep second and third degree burns now covered a third of my body. The flames had ravaged my legs and abdomen. My porcelain skin was now a blanket of charred, raw, lesions that extended from below my knees, up the front and back of my legs, and onto my stomach. Surviving took on a completely new significance for me. It meant that I would be starting my life over, with a body that was not only unrecognizable, but also terrifying. Ugliness not only clenched its roots in my body, but also in my entire state of being.
Everyone around me knew that it took every ounce of my being to try and comprehend what was happening to me. I could not possibly bear anymore than I was already consciously aware of. I surely would have willed myself to die had I any prior knowledge of the months and years of excruciating physical and emotional pain that I would still have to endure.
