Heartbroken mum who lost two kids in devastating house fire Photoshops their ‘angel’ images into poignant family photo
Devasted Ericka Martinez revealed how she wanted to give up on life when she woke up from a coma to discover two of her three young children both died in the fire
A GRIEF-STRICKEN mum who lost two children in a house fire has photoshopped her dead children into a photo with her new family.
Ericka Martinez, from Dallas, Texas, who was left with 40 per cent burns in the blaze, made the heartbreaking tribute after losing Nathaniel, 5, and Natalie, 4.
Ericka set up a photo shoot with her fiancé Leodegario Sandate, 34, and their children - the poignant photograph also includes a Photoshopped image of Natalie and Nathaniel
The 25-year-old was rushed to hospital after escaping the flat blaze while she slept with three of her children Nathaniel, Natalie, and five-month-old Emily.
She was put into an induced coma for a month only to wake up to be told that Natalie and Nathaniel didn't survive.
The devastated mum spent the next six months in hospital recovering and sadly, unable to deal with her wounds, her husband of three years left her.
Ericka in hospital after the house fire which happened in 2013 - she lost two of her young children
Ericka set up a photo shoot with her fiancé Leodegario Sandate, 34, and their child Isabella,1, as well as Emily, 3, and Noel, 4, - who had been staying with relatives on the night of the fire.
The poignant photograph also includes a Photoshopped image of Natalie and Nathaniel.
Ericka said: "I wanted to do an 'angel' photo for sometime.
"I think about them and I carry their words in my heart everyday. They get me through everything."
She has now opened up about how she turned her life around to honour her kids after revealing how she wanted to give up on life when she woke up from a coma to discover two of her three young children both died in the fire.
Ericka told how she hit rock bottom, believing she had "failed" her children and looked like "a monster."
"I lost everything the day of the fire," she said. "My home, two children, feeling safe, my confidence and afterwards my husband left me.
"I kept myself in the dark, I didn't want to speak to anyone and I started to let myself go.
"I didn't feel a reason to be here since I lost my two eldest.
"I felt like a monster."
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The fire that ravaged the flat in 2013 started after three-year-old Natalie picked up a lighter.
"My son woke me up telling me there was a fire," she recalled. "I had no other choice but to run with my kids to get out of the house.
"I caught on fire as I opened the door and my two oldest, who were holding on to my shirt that caught on fire, let go and ran the opposite direction and the door slammed in my face.
"I tried hard to open the door as I saw my skin falling off my arms and saw my five-month-old was burned as well.
"I realised I was still on fire so I ran down stairs screaming for help, got on the grass and started rolling to put the fire out."
It was the last time Ericka saw her two eldest kids alive.
Ericka described how hospital staff inspired her to learn to love herself for the sake of her kids.
She said: "I woke up cuffed to a bed because I tried to pull out my chest tube the day I found out they were gone.
"I remember a nurse sat with me and told me this was my second chance at life, not many people get it don't be selfish and give up that chance remember you have to live for your children.
"I realised she was right."
After Ericka's husband left her, she was transferred to Cornell hospital in New York and lived with her mum.
In total, Ericka had seven skin grafts to heal her wounds while her five-month-old infant, who had suffered second degree burns, recovered quickly.
She said: "That next six months in hospital I just wanted to give up but my best friend, who is now my fiancé, didn't let me.
"He came every day when I was in a coma and while I was in ICU being treated, he helped me to walk and talk and take care of the wounds.
";He became my mirror because I could see what he saw for a long time.
"He'd always call me beautiful and tell me that even though I had scars I still was a beautiful.
"I still felt like a monster hated people looking at me.
With support from her new fiancé, Ericka made a full recovery.
She explained: "Once I got better I started doing make-up to make myself feel good, but I realised I would only feel good when I loved myself, so I took off the makeup for a while and I stopped hiding my scars.
"When I fully loved myself again, I started putting makeup on again.
"I wanted to show everyone, you can look beautiful with makeup but you can feel even more beautiful if you love yourself.
"It took me a year to start realising I wasn't a monster and my scars just show the battle I have overcome."
She now runs a make-up empowerment group called Makeup Obsessed Dolls to help women going through hardships.
Ericka added: "Some of the women have been in abusive relationships, some of them have burns or disabilities or emotional problems.
"We started doing give-aways to give women who are less fortunate a chance to win makeup they couldn't afford for free, out of our own pockets.
"They might say I'm an inspiration to them and they look up to me but they're the inspiration for me to stop being a victim and became a survivor."
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