My daughter, 5, was horrendously burned by oil from a deep fat fryer after a fall – she almost died
GRACE SHAW was just five years old when her life was turned upside down.
While playing with younger sister Farrah at home in Talbot Green, south Wales, she fell and pulled an entire deep fat fryer off the kitchen work top.
Within seconds, bucket loads of simmering oil believed to be 190 degrees had covered the poor tot from head to toe.
Little Grace had burnt 38% of her body - including parts of her head, back, arms, legs and feet.
Screaming in unimaginable pain from third-degree burns, she went into shock.
April 28, 2016, was meant to be a normal day, but it had turned into living hell.
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Springing into action dad Gary Shaw quickly covered Grace in a damp towel.
He had found his darling daughter wailing 'I'm dying, I'm dying'.
He then called mum Toni-Marie Grundy-Jones who was working in a restaurant five minutes away - she darted home.
The parents didn't even wait for an ambulance and drove their daughter to A&E at Royal Glamorgan Hospital in neighbouring Llantrisant.
It was touch and go for weeks whether she'd make it
Grace's mum, Toni-Marie
Recalling the horrendous ordeal, Toni-Marie told how she had placed the fryer on the side before heading to work.
She said: "[The fryer] 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."
Hospital horror
Once at hospital the tot and her parents were taken straight into a side room where they were surrounded by medical staff.
Toni-Marie said: "We had eight doctors and five nurses all around her."
Grace was then put on a ventilator and sedated before being taken by ambulance to Bristol Children's Hospital.
Their worst nightmare was becoming a reality.
For the first 13 hours after 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.
Toni-Marie hunkered down in the Ronald McDonald accommodation on site, all the time juggling her commitments to younger daughter Farrah.
She said: "It was touch and go for weeks whether she'd make it.
"She could have picked up infections at any time."
Road to recovery
But astonishingly when Grace came round from the sedation, she looked at her devastated mum and said 'I want black pop and raspberries'.
After that, Toni-Marie said "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.
Toni-Marie praised the "incredible" care she received from staff as the reason for her survival .
Grace, now 11, has regular appointments at the Welsh Centre for Burns and Plastic Surgery at Morriston Hospital in Swansea.
She loves dancing and is now flourishing.
Moving forward
But growing her hair remains an issue for the girl who has been through so much at such a young age.
Toni-Marie, who now lives in Llanharry, Pontyclun, said: "Grace has a large area of her head that can no longer grow back because the hair follicles and fat tissue is permanently damaged."
Grace was gifted a hair system in November 2020 by Jayne Bonds, of Bonds and Co in Penygraig who heard about her story.
But unfortunately, Grace's system has some damage to the scalp, which means her system needs to be repaired in Italy.
This means Grace will have to be without hair for roughly two months.
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And her mum is really worried this "will be a huge confidence knock to her" because she will be without her hair at high school.
But now you can help, a page has been set up to try and get Grace a new hair system and give her the confidence she needs.
