A holidaymaker’s dream trip to Sardinia turned to horror when she had an epileptic seizure in a hot shower – suffering such severe burns she couldn’t walk for 18 months.
Annie Perez, who was diagnosed with epilepsy at 15, jetted off to Sardinia, Italy, to see a band with her friends.
After enjoying a leisurely breakfast on their villa balcony, the 38-year-old went for a shower and suffered a seizure while in the bathtub, sustaining severe burns on her right arm and both legs.
Her friends, alerted to a problem after seeing water flood under the bathroom door, rushed in and took her to a nearby health centre, before she was airlifted to hospital on June 22nd.
Two days later, Annie, who has no memory of what happened after she stepped into the shower, woke up with bandages around her arms and legs, after sustaining burns to 11% of her body.
The charity manager stayed in the Italian hospital for three weeks before being transported to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London, where she stayed for two months.
The burns were so severe that some scorched her ‘to the bone’, leaving her unable to walk unaided for 18 months.
More than three years after her accident in June 2022, Annie is still having therapy for her injuries and is now fundraising to freeze her eggs so she can have children in future.
Annie, from Chingford, East London, said: “It took a couple of days for me to come around, I woke up in hospital and saw those thick white bandages on both of my legs and my left arm.
“I was bed bound the whole time so I didn’t feel any pain and they were giving me strong painkillers.
“They started taking these bandages off and unravelling each layer and the colour started to show.
“I thought ‘gosh this looks quite something’, each layer got me more scared of what I was going to see.
“I remember it started to hurt the closer they were getting to my skin. I remember seeing my left leg, ankle and foot.
“I didn’t quite understand what I was looking at. The outer burns were quite crispy so I could tell that was burnt skin, it was like something you would see in pictures in anatomy class.
“11% of my body was burned. Some areas to the bone, others to the muscle.”
Unable to remember much after going for a shower, Annie said one of her first memories when she woke up was being disappointed she’d missed seeing the band.
Annie said: “We were in Sardinia to go and see some music, and one of the bands I always wanted to go and see were playing that evening and I was so excited to see them.
“Me and my friend had a bit of breakfast together on this beautiful balcony.
“I finished breakfast and went for a shower. I never lock the bathroom door because I’m epileptic and I don’t do that.
“As they [my friends] were coming past they noticed there was water coming out of the bathroom.
“What they told me was they knocked a few times, said my name, I wasn’t responsive so they opened it and realised what was going on.”
Annie still receives laser therapy, physiotherapy and hydrotherapy and has suffered nerve damage in her left ankle.
She said she couldn’t walk independently for almost two years after the incident and had to use a wheelchair at first, before swapping to a frame and walking sticks.
A year after the incident, Annie said she re-visited Sardinia and was able to make new memories.
Annie said: “I was discharged and I wasn’t able to walk independently for 18 months.
“I was in a wheelchair initially and I had a frame and walking sticks and then one walking stick.
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“I still receive laser therapy, physiotherapy and hydrotherapy. I have quite a lot of nerve damage in my ankle and lots of pins and needles if I stand still.
“The left leg is the most impacted. My right leg is healing well, it’s a process.
“It’s impacted my confidence as a woman. It’s been very difficult for me to manage recovery alongside work, relationships, intimacy, keeping my fitness up.
“You just have to adapt constantly. I have to accept that what’s happening it’s going to be for the rest of my life.
“It’s a really lovely place to go, I did revisit the following year and went to the hospital and met everybody.”
