Making sense of life
How model Katie Piper recovered from a life-changing acid attack. Jen Johnson reports
In 2008, Katie Piper was a 24-year-old at the beginning of a promising career. Having originally trained as a beautician, her modelling work had seen her feature in several national newspapers, and she was a presenter on a television shopping channel. But when her ex-boyfriend arranged for a man to throw sulphuric acid in her face in the middle of a London street, her life changed forever.
In an interview with ITV’s Loose Women, Katie’s mum recalled the horrendous first few hours after the incident. When they got to the hospital to see her, having only been told, ‘Your daughter has been in a chemical attack,’ her family went into a state of shock. Katie was unconscious, in a medically-induced coma. ‘It was a living nightmare – like being in a film,’ said her mum.
Katie’s entire face had been burned and the acid caused blindness in one eye, as well as serious damage to her neck and oesophagus. Her skin was completely removed and replaced with a skin substitute and grafts. For months, she had to wear a plastic face mask for 23 hours a day to maintain the moisture in her skin, and she has since undergone over 100 operations.
In the early days after the attack, Katie didn’t want to keep living. But, in a display of incredible strength, she has overcome this horrific experience – and has gone on to make a huge difference in the lives of many people.
She chose to waive her right to anonymity to share her story with the world. By the end of 2009, she had established The Katie Piper Foundation. The charity aims to give physical and mental support to survivors of burns and people with scars from traumatic incidents. At Christmas that year, she read the Alternative Christmas Message on Channel 4. She then bravely shared her story in Channel 4’s BAFTA nominated documentary, ‘Katie: My Beautiful Face’, which has been shown in 15 countries. She has gone on to work as a much-loved presenter for ITV’s Loose Women and BBC Radio 2, hosts the acclaimed ‘Katie Piper’s Extraordinary People’ podcast, and featured as a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing.
Katie’s work with victims of burns and other disfigurement injuries led to her being made an OBE. She also recently released a book called A Little Bit of Faith: Hopeful affirmations for every day of the year, which shows how her Christian faith has brought greater confidence and meaning to her life. Born out of Katie’s positive experience of sharing inspirational thoughts and quotes on social media during the COVID-19 lockdowns, her book aims to offer comfort and encouragement.
Katie says in the introduction, ‘As you read through these pages, you will notice that there’s also an element of faith woven through the book. I’m not from a religious family but I became a believer in my twenties and I wrote about this journey in my first autobiography, Beautiful. Knowing that God has a plan for me has helped me to make sense of my life. I’ve been able to trust in him and it’s allowed me to live a free life where fear doesn’t hold me back.’
Although she didn’t grow up in a church-going family, it was while Katie was recovering in hospital that she first connected with the Christian faith. One of the nurses who cared for her chatted to her about the power of prayer and they developed a bond. Katie even went to visit the nurse’s church when she was allowed out of hospital. But she also had a profound spiritual encounter in her hospital room, which changed the direction of her life. She shared this story in an interview on BBC programme Songs of Praise, which she later went on to join as a presenter:
‘I had come round from the coma – anyone that’s been in a coma will know you don’t just wake up and you’re back to being normal – you’re on a high dose of drugs, so there’s actually a very traumatic period of hallucinations that feel real. So, after that period, when I was coherent and I knew everything that had happened… I remember thinking, ‘Well, this isn’t just a life-changing injury, this is actually a life-limiting injury at such a young age, and I probably won’t have a future in any kind of profession or personal life. And I almost really started to plan an exit strategy from life.
‘In that moment, in my room, it was really bright and it was really hurting my eyes. I never saw an angel, I never saw God, and I never heard a voice out loud, but all inside me felt really warm, in a reassuring, relieving kind of way. So I did think, ‘Oh, am I dying?’ because it was really relaxing. And then somebody, and it wasn’t like male or female, it was just an inner commentary, said to me, ‘All of this is going to be okay, but not immediately. But please let go, please trust and surrender and go on this journey, but know the outcome will be okay and that your life will be purposeful’, and I have no idea why I actually believed it and let go. I can’t think why, because I never believe anything! I’m the biggest doubter and the biggest stubborn, I-know-it-all kind of person! I don’t even know if I told [my mum and] dad, because I didn’t want people to think I was crazy, but it was very real, and it’s continued all through my life.’
Katie began attending her local church, where she later got married to her husband, Richard. It was important to Katie that the pair attended ‘marriage preparation’ with an older couple from the church, because of the important role faith had come to have in her life. Katie and Richard now have two young daughters.
Katie has been, rightly, widely-acclaimed for her sunny outlook and her determination to bring good out of a hugely traumatic situation. Journalist and television personality Piers Morgan has said of her, ‘Katie personifies all the traits I most admire in people: courage, resilience, determination, mental strength, a refusal to do self-pity, and a fantastically positive and optimistic view of life whatever hurdles are put in her way.’
Undoubtedly, she is a remarkable character – strong, brave and resolute. But she is also clear about the role her faith has played in helping her make sense of her story.
In her latest book, Katie ‘shares her belief that heartbreak and hardship can become fuel for your fight’. Kamran Bedi, a celebrity life coach, wrote in his review of it that ‘having faith is having hope, and hope helps us to dispel our fears and to channel our energy into what we can be hopeful for. Katie Piper is a symbol of hope who inspires us to believe that things can get better, no matter how hard we are challenged.’
Katie has devoted her life to reminding people that it is possible to overcome even the most traumatic of experiences – and to never underestimate the miraculous power of ‘A Little Bit of Faith’.