Danette Burzlaff-Haag was just ten when her house was destroyed with 27 people inside.
Her parents were hosting an event for local children in their Iowa-based home when a faulty valve in the furnace caused a gas leak.
When Danette’s mum turned on the hot water, it ignited the fumes – and seconds later, the house went up in flames.
A ball of fire emerged from the basement stairs, engulfing Danette and her family home, and in a blink of an eye everything inside was destroyed.
Danette suffered third-degree burns to nearly 70% of her body, and she and her dad endured life-threatening injuries – but miraculously everyone who had attended the event survived.
Recalling the fateful day, Danette, now 53, said she ”had an emergency tracheotomy and was attached to a ventilator” which kept her alive.
“I was in the burn centre for months and was in and out of the hospital for reconstructive surgeries until I was 20.
“I have had more surgeries than I can count (somewhere around 30), most of which were skin grafts, creating more wounds and adding to the extent of my forever scars,” Danette, who lives in Windsor, Colorado, remembers.
Although she survived the explosion, rebuilding her life while experiencing significant scarring, was difficult.
Danette had to wear pressure garments, splints, and face masks throughout her school years, which made life “emotionally excruciating,” and the young girl had to get used to having a scar-covered body.
“I knew I didn’t fit in and felt like I never would. I was hopeless, helpless, and devastated throughout my teen years and beyond,” the now 53-year-old mum said.
Following the brutal incident, Danette was convinced she’d have to give up her dream of becoming a beauty queen.
However, by working on her mindset and being resilient, Danette entered her first beauty pageant in 2019 and was eventually crowned Mrs Colorado – which not only meant she was the first severely scarred woman to win the title, but also one of the oldest.
”I had to build the courage to embrace my many scars as something powerful and not something tied to shame, which is what this world has often taught me through staring, snide comments and an immense amount of rejection,” the real-life inspiration told Daily Star.
“When I was given the banner reading, ‘Mrs. Colorado’ and the crown was placed upon me, it was a glorious moment.
“Not only for the confident, beautiful woman I had become, but also for that little 10-year-old girl that had lost everything in one fateful moment,” she explained.
Speaking about the gas blast, Danette, who has four children, said she doesn’t see herself as a ”victim” – but instead, ”a burn survivor”.
”I have had to learn to see myself as much more than my injury in order to accomplish all that I have,” she told the publication.
The mum-of-four, who works as a paediatric nurse, is also a mindset life coach and has since written a book ‘Beauty From Ashes: Transforming Wounds into Wisdom; Scars into Stars’ about her harrowing experiences.
Despite having been ”stared at every day for the last 43 years”, Danette said her ”confidence and beautiful energy has quieted most of the snide comments” – and today, she sees her scars as ”God’s masterpiece” that were created when she ”walked through fire as a child”.
”When you see a unique piece of art, you have to stop and stare at it. You admire it and maybe even learn something from it in some way,” Danette said.
Now, when anyone is ”admiring” her scars, learning from her injury or is simply ”inspired” by her courage to not give up, Danette doesn’t ”even have to say a word”.
“This beautiful thought process keeps me smiling and moving on with my day, not stealing my joy like it used to and creates a much better situation for all involved,” said the mother-of-four who insisted that it was this mindset that’s behind her ”success”.
