World Burn Congress 2011 - Cincinnati, OH

Well, World Burn Congress for 2011 held in Cincinnati, OH, is over for the year.  It was utterly amazing.  The experiences I had while there for the first time are irreplaceable.  I honestly don't know how to describe my time there because it is simply indescribable.  I met all the online survivor friends I had and I met new people and it was just like finding a secure place for myself where I could return to the personality and girl I once was.  I was free and comfortable to be ME and not worry about being stared at, looked at funny or just thinking that I am.  I'm not saying my friends or family do this cause they don't, but people I don't know do.  Such as when I'm out running errands with my mom or my friends.  There were people there worse than me and there were people there better off than me but we all shared something, a common bond of being a burn survivor, of having a burn injury happen in our lives that changed our lives forever and the life that we expected.  We shared our stories, the good and the bad and we cried together and laughed together.

As first timers, on our name tag was a heart sticker that meant this was our first WBC.  So, the ritual at WBC is if anyone sees you that you are just meeting, whether they are new to WBC as well or been going for decades, it's hugs all around.  So we were getting hugged right and left and we were hugging other first timers.  And these hugs felt like you'd known this person your whole life the way they hugged you and you hugged them in return.  They were warm, heartfelt, soulful hugs.  And they felt sooo good.  I almost cried with every hug.  It was like coming home after a long exchange trip away from home during high school.

After we arrived at the hotel, we checked in and went to our room.  We stayed at the Hyatt Regency and it was pretty nice, not too shabby.  There were 22 floors and we were on the 21st floor which was fun, except when the elevator got busy and it took forever to get up and down as people were stopping to get on or off at nearly ever floor almost.  That first night, we ordered in from the Champs Restaurant in the hotel and it was de-licious!!

(Me just arriving in our room - 2125 - after a loooong day of travel)

 (One view of our Hyatt Regency hotel room)

 (Looking out the window on the 21st floor)

(Looking down from the 21st floor on our first night)

Wednesday, our second day there and the "Pre-Congress Day" where you could get registered and go to extra workshops that you had to pay extra in the registration fee to go to.

(All registered here and you can barely see the red heart sticker on the right on my name tag 

that indicated I was a "first timer" at WBC)

(Pops and I's name tags together)

(The Duke Energy Center.  This is the convention center where all the workshops/keynote speakers/our free meals/closing ceremonies and closing banquet were all held.  It was HUGE.)

We had already paid to go to one of those pre-congress workshops and it was the best workshop we did the entire week.  It was called, "Road Trip! Navigating Life After Burns."  The instructors/speakers were incredible and I just got so much out of the class.  It was a very interactive class so that was hard at first but it got easy real quick cause everyone was in my same position, a burn survivor.  And there were a few caregivers there as well so that helped my dad a lot.  One of the instructors led off by talking about how he did so much research on life after a burn injury and surveyed many doctors and nurses and they all told him the same thing when posed with the question of what to expect after a burn injury?  And that was basically, no one really knew cause not much research is done on the subject and every burn is different and every one is different which makes sense because it is an injury to the largest organ in the body - the skin and everyone's skin is so different so therefore we will all react differently.  But it is disheartening to know that not much is known about burns and life after a burn and what to be able to expect.  It's almost like we're all on our own in a way in terms of how we're going to heal, both physically and emotionally.  But yet we are not alone because we are burn survivors together and we can seek solace in that knowledge that there are other burn survivors out there who can relate to some things if not almost everything you're going through and if they can't relate, they can share their relative story with you to help you with your struggles and be strong where you are weak and visa versa.

At about 6pm that evening was the Walk of Remembrance where we all gathered and took a walk where we were led by firefighters and a bag piper down to the Memorial of Fallen Firefighters.  When we arrived there, the bag piper stood up on the platform and played "Amazing Grace" and wow was that powerful.  Put tears in my eyes.  There were a couple speeches made, two by burn survivors who were firefighters.  There is a very special bond between firefighters and burn survivors and that point was made during those speeches.  The whole time we were there the firefighters were just so incredible to us.  Just awesome.  It was an emotional service.

 (There was a fire station that was by where we walked and the fireman had the lights going on their trucks and they were standing at attention as we walked by.  So moving to see them.)

 (Just a glimpse of people making the walk.  There were SO many people.)

 The bag piper that led us and played "Amazing Grace")

(These were the fireman who led us with that banner that we all signed.)

Then that night was the opening banquet which was fun, except we were pretty beat from our full day of traveling the day before.  But we stayed for awhile.  There was a small live band that played some great music actually and it was just a good time. (*Notice all the following pictures are my famous "self-portraits." I love those kind of pics for some reason. And also note, in pretty much all these pictures, you can REALLY see my scars, which is awkward for me to show you these. Hopefully those scars will get fixed someday soon with "derma-abrasion")

(Dad and I at Opening Banquet)

 (An online fellow burn survivor and friend, Gary and what a character he is! He is a wonderful guy and friend)

 (Another online fellow burn survivor and dear friend, Luciana that I finally got to meet.  She found me through this blog actually. Also got to meet her husband, Justin and they are amazing people.)

(Another survivor I am proud to call my friend now, Jan. She is also from Portland OR - we flew in together - and such a character.  I got quite a kick out of her and she has such a warm heart.)

The next days were filled with many workshops, eating great free breakfasts and lunches and then more workshops.  Our inbetween time was filled with either napping, resting in the hotel, visiting with other survivors/friends or taking in Cincinnati.  Our hotel was in downtown Cincinnati and the Fountain Square was just a couple blocks from where we were so that was a really fun place to go. I think we went down there Thursday night and had dinner.  It was really beautiful and the weather was beautiful.  

 (Dad and I in front of the fountain at Fountain Square)

 (The Fountain Square at night. Beautiful)

On Friday, we all kinda had the afternoon off so my dad and I took the advice of some great friends that I knew online and finally got to meet (Luciana and her husband Justin) and we went up to Mt. Adams, an "eclectic hilltop community" as they describe it up there and it was really, REALLY neat and loads of fun.  It was obvious you had to have money to live up there.  And we happened to sit next to Nick Lachey and his new wife Vanessa Millino while we were eating at the Mt. Adams Bar and Grill!!  It was crazy seeing them walk in there of all places and then sit right next to us!!  Totally random.  So, then we got a cab ride back, as we got a cab ride there, and spent the rest of the evening in our hotel room.  We were beat from walking around everywhere up there.  But that was a really fun day and afternoon.

 (One of the streets in this wonderful "eclectic hilltop community." Very cool buildings and streets.)

 (A famous Bar and Grill up in Mt. Adams during the prohibition of Alcohol. Interesting history in that restaurant and several famous people have been there...including Nick Lachey who sat next to us!!)

 (older "row" type homes. Kind of look like old townhouses. Really neat buildings up there.)

Saturday's closing ceremonies in the afternoon were really quite emotional.  It got me.  It was really beautiful at the end when we were asked by Amy Acton who acts on the Executive Board of the Phoenix Society that does the WBC (and who also gave me the scholarship to go to this) to all get in a circle around the Grand Ballroom we were in and we passed around the Phoenix Society flag while wonderful music played.  Then after the flag finally got passed all the way around the circle, we watched an animated video presentation they put together about how life is before a burn injury and then what happens to you, your family, your friends and your life after a burn injury.  That hit me.  Hard.  And I couldn't stop from just crying and crying because I could totally relate to it all.  It was just extraordinarily moving and I really had a cry.  That was hard.

Then during our time between then and the closing banquet, I needed some more rest and my dad had been wanting to go to the top of the Hilton hotel, which is the tallest building in Cincinnati cause there's an observation desk up there.  I wasn't too interested having lived in New York and seen a more impressive skyline than Cincinnati's (nothing against Cincinnati!) so I laid down and had a nap while my dad went up and I'm glad he went ahead and did it cause he really enjoyed it.

 (One of the views on top of the Hilton)

 (This is the bridge that was the model for the Brooklyn Bridge in NYC. Made by the same guy, he was testing his idea for the Brooklyn Bridge with this bridge in Cincinnati)

 (The Cincinnati Bengals Football Stadium)

(The view of Fountain Square from the top of the Hilton)

Closing Banquet was a three course dinner and we were served like celebrities.  We sat at assigned tables and our little Portland group got our tickets together to get a table so we could all sit together for the last night.

(Part of our "Oregon" group - J.R. from Bend, Jan from Portland, and Mona from Lake Oswego)

A few awards were given along with speeches and then the ten piece band began and people hit the dance floor.  After awhile, my right leg where they took out that huge flap piece was starting to bother me so we said some goodbye's and headed back to the hotel where we began our packing to get ready to leave very early the next day.  At this time it still wasn't hitting me that WBC 2011 was over.  My first WBC had come to an end. 

But it has hit me today.  I have been worried about coming home and being so isolated.  WBC was a life changing event not only in the great motivational speakers we had and the workshops, but I think a lot of the real healing happened outside of the workshops when we were just hanging out with other survivors and friends.  I met a lot of my online friends who are burn survivors and then I met a lot of great new people who all have changed my life forever and I am truly blessed to have met them, spent a week with them and been able to share in this experience with them.  They are all incredible people and I aspire to have the kind of energy and positivity that so many of them possess and I hope to inspire them as well.  To my burn survivor friends that I met and made during my time at WBC this past week, thank you for what you have brought to my life.  Thank you for your incredible friendship and love.  There is nothing like what you gave to me at this year's WBC 2011.  You are all truly amazing in my eyes.  And I miss you already.

During the closing ceremonies, someone with the Phoenix Society read a letter from a family (the mother wrote it) that were unable to come this year and she wrote something in there that really described the WBC and that's, "WBC is not the end, it is just the beginning.  Like finding a family you always knew you had but never knew where to find."  I think I am blessed to have three families now where I once had two, and I was blessed to have two to begin with.  I have my blood family, I have my non burn survivor friends who are dear to my heart and now, after WBC, I found a new family.  A family of other survivors as well as caretakers and caregivers.  I am truly blessed to have those three family branches in my life.  As the brilliant and inspiring Helen Keller said, "I would rather walk in the dark with a friend, than be alone in the light."

The Official World Burn Congress 2011 Slideshow

Animated Slideshow at Closing Ceremonies That Shows Life Before and After a Burn Injury - Very Moving