2022 Winner
ELIZABETH SOFFE
Brave youngster who suffered third degree burns over 60 per cent of her body as a baby has raised more than £200,000 for the hospital where she was treated.
Elizabeth, eight, suffered severe burns in a fire when she was six months old.
Mum Sinead had just put her down in her cot, when a faulty air conditioner sparked a blaze that engulfed the room – including her crib.
Liam, 42, recalled: “Sinead went inside and the room was on fire. The cot was on fire. Elizabeth was on fire.”
The family were living in Qatar at the time but were flown to England by air ambulance. Elizabeth was admitted to a specialist unit at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, battling for her life. With this type of burn, also called ‘full-thickness burns’ all layers of the skin – epidermis and dermis – are destroyed, and the damage may even penetrate the layer of fat beneath the skin. As well as 60% burns, she had lost most of her fingers, some of her nose, all of her hair and an ear. The youngster spent weeks in a coma, followed by six months in intensive care, and has undergone more than 70 operations so far. Elizabeth still faces grafts and reconstructive surgery every six months and needs regular physiotherapy and several baths a day to help soothe her scars.
Last year, wanting to thank the medics who saved her life, Elizabeth ran a mile a day for 26 days, including 73 laps of her garden during periods of isolation. She raised £215,000, including £160,000 for a Fractional CO2 Laser machine which softens tissue and reduces tightness around severe scars from burns and other forms of injury and trauma.
She proudly unveiled the new equipment just before Christmas. Exceeding her targets meant that Elizabeth could donate money to charities that had helped her along the way including Ex-Cathedra Singing Medicine, Ronald McDonald House and The Make-A-Wish Foundation.
The Soffe family – including Elizabeth’s siblings Amelia, William and Daniel – have settled in Birmingham, a city that welcomed them when they most needed it and has now become their permanent home.
Dad Liam, an engineer, says: “The hope is that this machine reduces the number of operations she’ll have to have, and for other kids like her – whether they have burns or scars from having major operations.
“She deals with it all quite well but she does sometimes get negative comments or people staring – even adults. She can deal with the physical challenges, it’s the psychological stuff and the constant impact of people staring that it’s more difficult to find a cure for.” Despite everything she has gone through, Elizabeth refuses to feel sorry for herself. Liam adds: “She is an unbelievably enthusiastic child. She never complains, she just gets on and does it, always has a smile on her face, it is unbelievable.”