North Texas spa partners with nonprofit to help young burn survivors find self-love
NORTH TEXAS – For young women and girls with disfiguring burns, the road to self-acceptance and self-love can be a long one. One nationwide organization is partnering with a local medical spa to help with the transformation.
At just 12 years old, Campbell Martin's life changed forever.
"On July 24, 2012, I was in a house fire with my dad and my sister," she said. "I remember all of the fire, every single part until the ambulance, and I remember them saying, 'Give her morphine,' and then I just knocked out."
With severe burns on about 85% of her body, she was placed in a medically induced coma. When she woke up three months later, she didn't recognize herself.
"I remember that they had to hide all of the mirrors in the room because it would cause too much trauma," she said. "The bodily change was harder than anything. Learning how to eat and walk and bathe yourself for the first time."
Martin said strangers would ask her what happened.
"Kids would point and cry and scream at you," she said. "I've had women, men, and children say, 'Why'd you do this to yourself?' when they have no clue."
All of this tremendously impacted her sense of self-worth. Then she met Lesia Cartelli, who suffered severe burns herself and offered a new perspective.
"When I was 9 years old, I was in a natural gas explosion at my grandparents' home, and I was in the basement when the explosion happened," Cartelli said.
For many years, she felt like Martin, but then she had a realization.
"I didn't want to waste my pain going through that and not transform it into something that's beautiful," she said.
She launched Angel Faces, and for the last 20 years, the nonprofit has hosted retreats for dozens of girls and young women who have sustained disfiguring burns.
"I saw that there was a void, that the hospitals were doing their best to treat and save lives, but what really happens when it's time for them to go back out on the street?" Cartelli said.
She teaches participants how to handle questions from the public, while also learning to love themselves through self-care.
"The facials and the skincare are really crucial for the girls because this is the first time since their injury that many have felt that they need to reconnect with their body," she said. "They start to learn that, okay, every day if I wash my face, maybe with what little fingers or hands that I have, I start to incorporate that this is my new face now and I have to love it. I have to take it where I am today and move forward with it."
That's what brought Cartelli to Renew Beauty in NorthPark Center.
Owner Louise Proulx has decided to celebrate the medical spa's 16th anniversary by helping girls and young women like Martin feel whole again.
"I want to be able to give these young ladies the opportunity to feel radiant, to feel beautiful," Proulx said. "My goal with Angel Faces is to bring awareness to the organization and also raise the necessary funds to help bring these women to the Dallas area to have a beautiful retreat."
For Martin, all of this has brought out a newfound confidence.
"Once you actually gain confidence and an understanding of what's going on with your body and you say to yourself, 'I survived something horrific,' not many people can take away that confidence again," Martin said.