A woman was left with third degree burns on the majority of her body after her family's motorhome went up in flames.
Danielle Branch suffered horrific injuries after refusing to leave the caravan without her beloved mum, but the two thankfully escaped together.
The 32-year-old told the ECHO how her family narrowly escaped the blaze and why she could never have tried to get out of the fire without knowing her mum was with her.
She continued: “I was asleep when the fire started at about 8.20am. I woke up to a hissing noise and my stepdad also woke up and screamed fire.
“He opened the door and the blowback blew him away from the caravan. I wouldn’t leave my mum behind, so we found each other and escaped out the door.
“I was on fire at this point and had to roll on the ground to put out the fire myself. It was terrifying.”
Danielle suffered third degree burns to 85% of her body, and was placed in an induced coma to help her recovery.
Her mum, 65-year-old Janet Clark, also suffered burns in the blaze.
Life has thrown so many curve balls at Danielle, all of which she was helped through by her mum.
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She said: "I’ve always been close to my mum, in fact I was both a mummy and a daddy’s girl so was really close to both parents growing up.”
"She was my rock, the one person who supported me through everything I went through, no matter how difficult."
Speaking about the special relationship ahead of Mother's Day this Sunday, Danielle explained how her Dad died in 2005 from cancer and in 2013 she lost her husband to suicide before the motorhome fire in Addington, Buckinghamshire on New Year’s Day 2015.
That relationship only got stronger after the deaths of her father, and her husband at the age of just 33.
Danielle continued: “She was my rock, the one person who supported me through everything I went through, no matter how difficult.
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“She was grieving herself, but still always put me first. She tried everything she could to help me, and even paid for my counselling.”
“Mum basically had to do everything for me, from washing and dressing me, to feeding me.”
It was while she was at London’s Royal Chelsea and Westminster Hospital that she met Katie Piper, a campaigner and advocate, who herself suffered horrific burns after an acid attack in 2008.
Danielle said: “Katie came to visit me in hospital and when I went to an event her charity had organised, it was there I met other burns survivors and for the first time didn’t feel so alone.
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“That’s when I realised there was a life after burns. It was life changing.”
The Katie Piper Foundation, founded in 2009, helps burns survivors rebuild their lives.
Danielle was offered the opportunity to take part in the pilot of the Foundation’s rehabilitation centre at Fairfield Hospital in St Helens.
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She said: “I got on so well with everyone at the pilot. I later went for the job to be patient coordinator at the rehabilitation centre.”
Danielle moved from Kent to Merseyside – and her mum moved with her.
She said: “Every time my mum talks about what I’m doing she cries! She can see how life changing it’s been for me and I can definitely say I don’t know where I’d be without the Foundation.”
On Sunday, Danielle, and her partner Doug will be cooking a special meal for her mum.
“She is the most selfless, amazing human being I’ve ever met, I don’t know if I’d be here if it wasn’t for her.
“I’d hit rock bottom but she never gave up on me. That was why it was so important to me to give back to her this Mother’s Day.”
The Katie Piper Foundation is selling Phenomemum sweatshirts to raise money for the charity. The shirts cost £39.99, from www.phenomemum.com with £10 from the sale of each shirt going to the Foundation.
