UPMC Mercy burn injury survivors head off to multi-day camp with other kids across state
A bus carrying a group of Pittsburgh-area burn survivors pulled away from UPMC Mercy Hospital on Thursday morning, headed for a four-day camp for kids just like them.
“Pediatric burns are unique. It’s an injury that stays with them really for the rest of their lives,” said UPMC Mercy’s Burn Director, Dr. Jenny Ziembicki.
She and some of the nurses in her unit saw the kids off as they hit the road for Camp Susquehanna in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
Nicole Pieri has treated many of these kids in her eight years as a burn unit nurse.
“To actually come back to this point to where they can go to camp, be mentors for others, embrace their scars and what they’ve been through in life, it’s just really gratifying,” she said.
Lyla Booher, 10, has been going to the camp, put on free of charge by the Burn Prevention Network, for several years.
She was badly burned by a spilled pot of hot coffee when she was just two.
“It just fell off of a table fell on her face, neck, and body. She was burned on 26% of her body,” said Lyla’s mom, Christina Booher.
At camp, Lyla will get to hang out with around 50 kids from across the state for fun and games, plus therapy sessions and life lessons from counselors who are also burn survivors.
Her mom says that each year Lyla returns home even more confident and ready to take on anything the future holds.
“She went from not looking at herself in the mirror to being very proud of her scars and who she is,” said Christina.
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