A story that proves what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

Katie Piper is a beautiful, young woman rebuilding her life after surviving a brutal attack where sulphuric acid was thrown in her face, in March 2008.Before the attack, Katie was a model and budding TV presenter with a hectic social life and a glowing future in the public eye. More than two years on with over 40 operations and countless treatments and therapies, Katie faces personal challenges daily but she is back in control, living her life.

“I am proof that disfigurement doesn’t have to destroy lives”

Danny Lynch asked Katie on a date via Facebook but just two weeks into the relationship things went horribly wrong.  Danny became aggressive after a night out and Katie endured eight hours rape and abuse. With death threats from Lynch, she was too scared to report him to the police and instead locked herself in her flat for three days.

Danny bombarded her with calls and messages and in a desperate attempt to get him out of her life she believed his pleas that if she read an email from him he would leave her alone forever. As she left her flat to head to an internet café, a man approached holding a cup. Thinking he was a beggar, Katie reached into her bag for money. In a split second 19 year old Stefan Sylvestre threw a cup of sulphuric acid in her face.

The acid destroyed all the skin on Katie’s face, neck and hands, and left her blind in one eye. It also burnt her nose and throat so severely that she needed to be fed through a tube in her stomach and now regularly has operations to dilate her esophagus as the scar tissue reforms and restricts her ability to eat and drink.

Surgeons, led by Mr Mohammad Ali Jawad FRCS, performed pioneering surgery on Katie. He chose to control the damage by removing the dead layers of skin from Katie’s face and rebuilding the foundations using a dermal substitute called Matriderm along with huge skin grafts from her back and buttocks. It’s the first of its kind in the world to be done as a single stage operation.

Katie spent seven weeks in the burns unit at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. She was placed in an induced coma and spent ten days in intensive care. She wore a special plastic pressure mask for 23 hours a day for two years, in an effort to flatten her scars.

The attack ruined Katie from the inside out. Like many, she believed her life was over now that she was a burns victim.

“I’m happy with who I am and I’ve learnt it’s ok to be me and that scars don’t mean I am unattractive.”

As well as her NHS care in Britain, Katie was sent to a specialist rehabilitation centre in France, Centre Ster in Lamalou, which had a huge impact on her recovery, both mentally and physically. At home her days were filled with specialist scar management routines. She relied on her mum and dad for help but thanks to the outstanding treatment she had and her incredible determination, Katie has made amazing progress and no longer feels that her burns define her.

The two men were linked and both were sentenced in April 2009. Lynch was given two life sentences, and will serve at least sixteen years in jail. Stefan Sylvestre received a 12-year sentence, with a minimum of six years behind bars.

“Before I went public with my story I had a very different idea of how people perceived me and my injuries. Yes, sometimes I was right, but not all the time. Sometimes I was paranoid, oversensitive and hurting.”

In May 2009 Katie made the big decision to give up her anonymity and share her story in a remarkable film for Channel 4, Katie: My Beautiful Face. From CCTV footage of the attack to the day she first steps out of her parents’ house alone, Katie takes you through the daily ordeal of rebuilding her life, the pioneering treatments that helped save her and the effects on both her and her family.

Since then her achievements have only climbed, from talking on television and radio around the world to setting up the Katie Piper Foundation. The response to Katie’s story has been overwhelming and by telling it she hopes to increase awareness and support burn victims by sharing information about the kind of rehab she had and her experiences in getting to where she is today.

Learn more about the treatment that changed Katie’s life forever in our support section.