“It’s emotional and scary”: White Island eruption survivor removes her face mask
A survivor of the 2019 White Island volcano eruption who suffered burns to 70 percent of her body has finally been able to remove her face mask.
Stephanie Browitt was visiting New Zealand’s northeastern Bay of Plenty region with her sister and father, who were both among the 22 people who died in the eruption.
Her road to recovery has been a long and difficult one, which she has shared on social media with more than 1.6 million followers.
Appearing on Nine’s 60 Minutes, Stephanie removed her compression mask for the first time, telling host Sarah Abo that it was a “big deal” and that it felt like “this day would never come”.
“It’s emotional and scary. It is actually quite daunting as much as it is exciting,” she said.
Looking in the mirror, Stephanie said she saw a woman who was tougher than she ever thought she could be.
Image: 60 Minutes
“I see a person who has gone through so much more than I ever expected to go through in life. I see a very tormented person,” she continued.
As much as this is exciting, it has been a long, hard journey to get here. I am tougher than I ever thought I would be.
“I have learnt that the fight for survival is a real thing. I was literally fighting every day to survive, to just get back to being myself. I never knew that I had this in me.”
Sunday’s episode also showed never-before-seen photos of Stephanie’s injuries, revealing the extent of the severe burns that covered almost her whole body.
Stephanie told the program that she remembers waking up for the first time since the incident, after she was in a coma for two weeks, in bits and pieces.
“I was full of tubes and surrounded by medical equipment and in a very small room with lots of noises. Those things will always stay with me, I don’t think they will ever leave. It’s just things you don’t forget,” the 26-year-old said.
She said her recovery had been extremely difficult, especially in the early stages.
I had to start from scratch like a baby. Sitting upright, getting out of bed, taking my first few steps, even feeding myself – I had to relearn all of those skills from scratch and they didn’t come easy at all,” she said.
“It was incredibly difficult.
“There have been plenty of moments where I have wanted to give up, or I have just been in tears not wanting to do anything. But I do feel I have come a long way from day one.”
Stephanie is now in the process of suing Royal Caribbean, the company that ran the excursion to the island on the day of the eruption, over the physical and psychological injuries she has suffered.
Her lawyer, Peter Gordan, claimed that data from the weeks prior showed that the island was a “ticking time bomb”.
“It makes me furious. They let down so many people … So many people died needlessly,” he said.
“I think Steph’s injuries are the worst I have ever seen. I don’t think I have ever met quite an exceptional person in the way she has battled on.”
Despite the hardship she has - and continues - to overcome, Stephanie is looking to the future, telling 60 Minutes she hopes to “go back to as normal a life as possible” and plans to return to working full-time, travelling and her social life.
“I know I have got the support of so many people, and that helps me realise that this isn’t as scary as I feel it is,” she said.
Image: @stephaniecoral96 (Instagram)