I READ NIE NIE

Like a million other people I read the NieNie Blog (see side bar). This is the saga of Stephanie Clark Nielson who was burned over 80% of her body. It is truly a story of triumph as Stephanie becomes a burn survivor rather than a victim. She has allowed us into her world as she describes what it is like to be reintroduced to her young children with a new scary face.

This past weekend Stephanie was in St. Louis for her mother’s birthday. She spoke to a group of 400+ women about her triumph and her faith in God. It was a very powerful experience. 20/20 was there. So was the St. Louis Post Dispatch and other unnamed news media.

I had meet Stephanie last November at the home of her parents. Kent and I talked to Stephanie for 30 minutes. When we left Kent said, “I thought she would look a lot worse. I guess she wasn’t burned as badly as we thought.” I remember reading her blog and seeing the before Stephanie pictures. I also vividly remember the day she showed her readers what she looked like with her new face. I couldn’t look at it. I wanted the old Stephanie back. Slowly I became accustomed to the new face and grew to love how she looked. Last week she posted a before Stephanie picture. It was a beautiful picture but it wasn’t Stephanie.

As I sat listening to Stephanie on Saturday I thought about my experience with her. Why did I find her so beautiful? As she discussed how people stared at her or made unkind remarks I just couldn’t understand. I guess she wasn’t burned as badly as I originally thought.