When life gets tough, it’s our loved ones who help see us through. Fifteen-year-old Korryn Bachner was severely burned in a bonfire and wasn’t able to attend prom.
But her friends weren’t about to let her miss out on a major milestone in her life just because of the accident.
So, they decided to bring the prom to her and make sure that she wouldn’t miss out on a night that she would never forget. Bachner was among the dozen teens who were injured in a firepit explosion that occurred at the house of a friend in Glendale Heights, Illinois.
“It just happened so fast, no one expected it,” she told Chicago Tribune. “It was, like, unreal. You didn’t think it was happening. I knew I was on fire so I stopped, dropped and rolled. I don’t know if I fell out of my seat, because of the impact.”
She said she’d have nightmares during the two weeks she spent at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood.
“But I don’t really think about it (now). … It’s not too bad to talk about,” she said.
Korryn’s mom said there were boys at the accident who were injured but helped to douse out flames by pouring water on people. She says they’re responsible for saving her daughter.
The explosion occurred when one of the students poured gasoline into the fire from a 5-gallon can. Bachner was released from the hospital on May 10 and the 15-year-old’s prom was scheduled for May 12 at Glenbard East High School.
Korryn now fights a painful battle each day of her life.
Gauze covers her entire head and face. Her mother has to change the dressing every day which Korryn likens to shards of glass on her cheek. She told the Chicago Tribune that the process is “painful, excruciating.”
Korryn says she now avoids looking at herself in the mirror. She caught sight of the more badly burn side of her face and has since covered that mirror.
“It wasn’t good,” she said.
Korryn, however, remains positive.
“Every day, I see improvements,” she said. “Every day another layer comes off, which is what we need to get down to that fresh skin, which is so painful. … But burn healing is a long, long process. It heals through time.”
Korryn’s friends decided to bring prom to Korryn since she couldn’t attend the prom. They decorated her home with lights and balloons according to the school’s prom theme: a night of a thousand lights.
They brought her a beautiful pink bouquet and she got to wear the dress she chose before the accident.
It was a black off-the-shoulder top with a floral pattern bottom. She had her nails painted to match her pink flowers. More than two dozen high schools attended. Her prom date, a close friend and senior at Glenbard East, shared a dance with her to Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect.”
“He stayed with me, instead of going to prom,” she said. “He said he was going to bring prom to me somehow … no matter what.”
But she told the rest of her friends to go on without her.
“I told them to go have fun for me, enjoy the night,” she said.
A GoFundMe campaign was started to help Korryn’s family pay for her medical bills. More than $80,000 of their $100,000 goal has been raised.
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