Salamanders Young Burn Survivors > Home Page > Your help is needed!

If you have your own website, please add a link to Salamanders Young Burn Survivors.

If you are a burn survivor, please think about helping other burn survivors feel less alone by sharing your story or your feelings with them. To get your own page in Your Own Stories on this site, all you have to do is email me and tell me what you want to share. You can send me pictures, drawings, poems, ..... anything you want. I will make the web-page for you.

Gary, of Burn Support Online, is looking for burn scar photos. Can you help?

One of the most popular sections on Gary's original website (now, sadly, lost to him) was the photos of healed burns. Nurses, physiotherapists and occupational therapists learned from the photos. They also referred other people to them. Most people assume all burn scars look the same (they assume the worst), and when families see that not all burn scars are extreme it gives them hope. Gary is now trying to gather enough photos for a similar section on his present website, Burn Support Online.

He also has a new project: to compare burn scars from the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, and 2000's. The purpose of this new project is to show that improvements in techniques over the years have made burn scars end up with a better appearance. One example of this is that burn scars from the late 60's had a swirl pattern to them, likely caused by debriding (a technique improved today). This project would provide a unique and valuable resource on how burn treatment has improved over the last fifty-something years.

"Sadly," Gary says, "getting photos is near impossible most of the time, so it's a section that I would have a hard time adding."

So, please help! If you have photos which Gary could use, please let him know. There is a contact form on Gary's website which you can use, or you can contact me (Sylvia) and I will pass it on to Gary.

Gail Titchener, a freelance writer, will pay UK Survivors for suitable stories. Can you help?

"Hi. My name is Gail Titchener and I am a freelance writer contributing to UK women's magazines including That's Life, Bella, Best, Real People, Chat and Woman, the women's pages of The Sun and The Mirror, as well as several teen mags. As I am always on the look-out for great true life stories, I thought I would get in touch to see if any of your members would be suitable candidates for inspirational stories for the above publications. I have written several articles about burns survivors before - including one about Beverley Hammett - and promise that all stories will be handled sensitively. Case studies must not have appeared in another national magazine and must be willing to be photographed. If their story is used, they will receive payment."
Gail Titchener: yourtruestory@yahoo.co.uk

Ben Sherwood is researching a book about survivors. Can you help?

"I respect the rules of chat rooms – no researchers allowed. That’s why I’m writing to ask for your help. I’m researching a book about survivors – who survives life’s adversities and why? I’ve interviewed a number of burn survivors and would like to invite Salamanders visitors to participate in an internet study of survivor strengths.

By way of background, until recently I was the executive producer of ABC's Good Morning America, the national breakfast show in the United States. I left television news this past September to pursue this project, a real passion of mine. The book will be a lead title from Grand Central Publishing in 2008. It will be published simultaneously in the United Kingdom by Penguin. A portion of the proceeds of this book will be donated to organizations and charities that support survivorship.

For this work, I am interviewing survivors around the world, including some well known individuals and other more every day survivors of natural disasters, accidents, crime and illness. I'm also interviewing co-survivors, namely the men and women who help family and friends through their trials. In addition, I’m interviewing experts on survival from many fields, both academic, medical, and, for lack of a better term, more operational (as in the military).

Above all, I am exploring the questions: What common psychological traits do survivors seem to share in common? What common biological qualities do they possess? What uncommon wisdom did they gain during their trials? What can the rest of us learn about survival for our own every day challenges from those who have been truly tested by life?

Working with a team of leading psychologists and psychometricians, we’ve developed a questionnaire to help improve our understanding of these key survivor strengths and qualities. I’d like to invite Salamanders visitors to participate in the research and validation phase of the study. The survey takes around 15 minutes to complete on the internet. It’s easy to log in and take the test.

The Website URL is: http://www.survivorstrengths.com. The research code is: survivorsclub.

Individual answers will be kept strictly confidential. We’ll take the responses and compare them with answers from survivors around the world. When we’re done analyzing all of the data, we’ll send a report with our findings.

Thank you very much,
Ben Sherwood."

If you need help and would like me to post an appeal here, or if you have any questions about the content of this page, please contact me (Sylvia)