Grace Shaw was just five years old when her life changed forever.
While playing with her younger sister Farrah in the kitchen-diner of their home in Talbot Green, she fell and pulled the boiling hot contents of a deep fat fryer all over herself. She burned 38% of her body - including parts of her head, back, arms, legs and feet - and went into shock from the unimaginable pain.
But thanks to the "incredible" care she received from staff in the A&E department at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in neighbouring Llantrisant, she survived.
Grace, who suffered the third-degree burns on April 28, 2016, was quickly covered in a damp towel by her dad Gary Shaw who then called mum Toni-Marie Grundy-Jones who was working in a restaurant five minutes away from their home.
Recalling the horrendous ordeal, Toni-Marie said: "Before I had gone to work I had put the deep fat fryer on and cut some chips ready to put in it. After the chips had been made I had put the fryer to cool on the counter. It had been turned off for about 20 minutes when the accident happened. I was later told the fryer's contents still would have been 180 to 190 degrees.
"When I got home, Grace was just shaking and screaming in pain and kept on saying 'I'm dying, I'm dying'. We didn't even wait for an ambulance - we just drove her to A&E ourselves."
WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES BELOW
When Gary arrived at the doors of A&E with Grace cradled in his arms, Toni-Marie said they were taken straight into a side room where they were surrounded by medical staff.
"They were fabulous. We had eight doctors and five nurses all around her," she said.
"Grace had to be ventilated and sedated before being taken by ambulance to Bristol Children's Hospital."
For the first 13 hours of arriving in Bristol, doctors carried out emergency skin grafts on Grace and tried to stabilise her condition.
She was then sedated for three days and spent a fortnight in intensive care as medics carried out skin grafts and procedures every other day.
"It was touch and go for weeks whether she'd make it. She could have picked up infections at any time," said Toni-Marie, who stayed in the Ronald McDonald accommodation on site in Bristol while juggling her commitments to younger daughter Farrah.
"But when she came round from the sedation, looked at me and said 'I want black pop and raspberries' we knew she was going to pull through. She's just so strong and independent."
Grace spent three months in Bristol before she was discharged, and now has regular appointments at the Welsh Centre for Burns and Plastic Surgery at Morriston Hospital in Swansea.
Now aged 11 Grace, who loves dancing, is now flourishing despite everything she's been through. But growing her hair remains an issue.
"Grace has a large area of her head that can no longer grow back because the hair follicles and fat tissue is permanently damaged," said Toni-Marie, who now lives in Llanharry, Pontyclun.
"She was kindly gifted a hair system in November 2020 by Jayne Bonds, of Bonds and Co in Penygraig, who read our story on WalesOnline and reached out to us on Facebook. Unfortunately, Grace's system has some damage to the scalp, which means her system needs to be repaired in Italy. Her head has also grown quite a bit. This means Grace would have to be without hair for roughly two months and being in high school this will be a huge confidence knock to her."
A GoFundMe page has been set up to try and get Grace a new hair system. To donate please go here.
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