Thank you so much for helping me to go to the World Burn Conference. I had an amazing experience. My first couple days at the conference was very overwhelming, and I just wanted to come back right away. I had never seen another burn survivor in my life before even though I am myself a burn survivor for 20 years now. I was shocked to see so many burn survivors in that conference. First couple days I did not even had a courage to talk to them.

Fortunately, my therapist was in that conference too, and he helped me a lot during those first couple of days. By the end of the second day I finally had courage to talk to some people around, and ask about their experiences. I was still very emotional, and could not stop crying.... During the conference I was taken back to my childhood when I got burned, and felt all the pain that I have never dealt with. I grew up in an area where I was the only burn survivor, and my family didn't know how to deal with it. So, for 20 years I had never talked to anyone about my scars even though I did have a lot of issues because of them but I never knew anything else but just to keep to myself my feelings about that accident...

By the end of the conference after attending a lot of helpful sessions I finally began to realize that I what happened 20 years ago is just a part of my accident, and that it does not make me any less than 'normal' people since I never considered myself 'normal.' It was very unusual for me to feel like a complete person again. Growing up all I could see were my scars but here I was at a place where I could look at me for who I am. I just can't describe all the feelings I went through during that conference. It was awesome!!! I came back home with a HUGE relief, and a totally different opinion about myself. So, I can tell for your that attending World Burn Conference was definitely a life changing experience, and I recommend all the burn survivors, and their family members to attend that conference.

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[We] had a great time. We feel so fortunate to have spent time with and got to know better those people who have survived a burn injury. The special presentations and break-out sessions were also very informative; open mic was very enlightening. … Thanks to everyone for making our trip so enjoyable.

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We had a great time too. ... We met some new friends and were able to see many from last year. You all will be in our prayers.

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Thank you so much for the opportunity to attend the WBC. We truly enjoyed and benefited from talking with the other burn survivors (especially those from IN). It was nice to catch up with them out of the hospital. … Listening to the open mic stories really sealed my decision and reason on why I am working towards my ASN (I have a BS in Elementary Ed.) Again, thank you!