Click here for research into burn survivor psychosocial integration articles and resources. In other words, how well burn survivors participate as contributing and healthy components of mankind. I personally feel totally lacking with my contribution, but then that probably is a rather normal feeling. Time for any Woody Allen movie.

The following cover a broad array of burn issues. Click Here For Recent News Articles.

Yahoo! Directory Listing: Burns

Burn Survivors Support Zone: For Victim, Family, and Friends

Burn Support Online (very active burn survivor forum site, and volumes of easy to understand burn articles)

Salamanders Young Burn Survivors (excellent site)[not to be confused with Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451's Salamanders, which were the fire trucks that carried kerosene in place of water to burn any and all books].

McGill University: Burn Engine Burn Engine is a website dedicated to advancing the practice of burn survivor rehabilitation.

The Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors, Inc.

Burn Talk -- dedicated to burn care, burn prevention and community education.

Burn Topics: A Guide to Burn Survival

Welcome to Burnsurgery.org Web Site: Educating the Burn Care Professionals

The January Foundation, aka BurnSurvivor.org We are about support, education, prevention, and motivation...the non-medical, and more emotional side of burn care.

Surviving Burns Support Services: burn survivor support group mentoring burn survivors

Burn Survivors Online

Burn Survivors Throughout the World

The Hurting Angels - Survivors Supporting Survivors (the author was burned at a young age)

The following website is a good resource for locating burn camps, support groups, etc.

Burns Support Groups Database

Burn Survivor Web Sites -- People Doing Real Things

Dave Borowski, Flicker of Hope Foundation

Dawn Colclasure -- Writer and Poet, and she writes a blog

John O'Leary -- Owns a real estate company, and on the side, a motivational speaker. Video Clip.

Sumner Redstone--severely burned in a 1979 Boston hotel fire; today he is majority owner of Viacom and CBS. It should be noted that Redstone was well established before being burned, but kicked his ambitions into high gear after the burns.

Blake Tedder -- college student and musician.

Richard Webster, Attorney, Burn Survivors USA (practices law in Iowa, and visibly shows burn scars) Before the burns Richard was a radio DJ.

Books, Blogs, and other media:

Burns to Butterflies by Susanne Gervay -- This is a work of fiction about a young burn survivor.

"Butterflies: Youth Literature as a Powerful Tool in Understanding Disability," by Susanne Gervay, Disability Studies Quarterly, Winter 2004, Volume 24, No. 1, 2004 [Copyright 2004 by the Society for Disability Studies].

Nikki Mze - Trial by Fire (a blog/journal kept by her father since her accident in 2004)

Celebrity Burn Survivors (burn survivor before becoming famous):

Parminder Nagra (actor: ER, Bend It Like Beckham) -- seven years of age; visiable burns on thigh as a result of pants catching fire while cooking.

Cassandra Peterson (aka Elvira, Mistress of the Dark; actor)--at age three a pot of boiling water full of Easter eggs fell over severely burning 35% of her body. She lost most o fher hair and her eyelids were fussed. "The costume's designed so that it's strategically placed. All the good parts show...A lot of things happen for a reason, and I have this strange feeling that without being burned, I don't think I would have been Elvira." (source: Elvira.com: Cassandra Peterson reflects on he career as campy Mistress of the Dark)

Amanda Redman (actor) -- 18 months of age; burns visiable on upper arm from a scalding accident.

Craig Spector (co-creator of A Nightmare on Elm Street) -- at 10 months of age pulled a pan of frying fried-chicken on his head causing second and third degree burns to an entire side of his face (from an interview with Paul V. Warelin).

-- Burned as an Adult --

Robert David Hall (actor, musician, radio DJ) -- burned at age 31 when a semi-truck crashed into his car causing his fuel tank to explode. From photos it does appear his head may have been burned; his legs were amputated. Hall plays the coroner on the television show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (Las Vegas). [An interesting aside is that Hall's co-worker Jorja-An Fox (who plays Sara Sidle on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation) and I both attended Melbourne High School at the same time, and we both lived on the barrier island (she Melbourne Beach and I Indialantic--to most people there is no distinction between the two towns.]

Famous Fictional Burn Survivors [are there any that have not been villians?]

Stars Wars: Anakin Skywalker, having recently become Darth Vader, will soon don his trademark mask after being consumed by flames from searing heat from "liquid hot magma" (all right, a lava river, but it's more fun to say it like Dr. Evil in Austin Powers) after being defeatd in a lightsaber duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi on the small planet of Mustafar. Vader suffers near fatal burn injuries and lung damage, and must wear his black life support suit until his death.

Phantom of the Opera, 1925, 1943 and 2004: A violinist, or musical genius depending on the adaption, with a disfigured face uses a mask to hid the scars from an acid burn, and terrorizes the Paris Opera House. From Wikipedia, "The famous unmasking scene which was said to have made theater patrons scream and faint in 1925." The 1925 silent movie can be downloaded in its entirety, no copyright, at Google: Phantom of the Opera Download or Internet Archive (will open in a new window).

V for Vendetta: V, a terrorist, is the main character who had been the subject of government experiments conducted on prisoners of war. His burns are a mystery though it is assumed they resulted from his escape from the prison during an explosion and resulting fire. He wears a papier mache mask and Batman-like cape, which keeps his face and body covered at all times (taylored after Guy Fawkes).

The Joker (Batman's primary nemisis)(acid burns, which damaged his facial muscles causing his insideous persistant smile)

A Nightmare on Elm Street, 1984: Freddy Krueger--burned alive in a boiler room after being released from prison. Krueger's ghost is extremely disfigured with burn scars and spends eternity haunting peoples dreams (nightmares) terrorizing and killing.

In The Movies [one time characters that no one remembers other than they were burned and scarred, and painful to look at]

The English Patient, 1996 (Ralph Fiennes)--a badly-burned plane crash victim recounts his life to his nurse via flashbacks. He never recovers from his injuries.

The Man Without a Face, 1993 (Mel Gibson)--a badly-disfigured recluse ex-school teacher coaches a a bright but troubled student.