EVERY child has head lice at some point in their lives, but after traditional treatments failed to work for Charity Sutter, her mum took drastic action - with devastating consequences.
When she was four years old, Charity's mum doused her head in petrol that she'd syphoned off from their lawn mower in a desperate attempt to kill off the persistent parasites.
"It was my grandmother who came up with the idea," Charity, now 21, from Flint, Michigan, told The Sun.
"She told mum they used kerosene back in the day to treat head lice, and that it worked better than anything she'd been trying.
"Looking back, I don’t know how she could even think this was a possibility, it was so dangerous."
After coating her and her sister's heads with the highly flammable substance in the bath, Charity's mum then went downstairs to cook dinner.
But when she lit up a cigarette, a cluster of ash fell onto Charity's head and the little girl went up in flames.
Charity ended up with third degree burns covering 60 per cent of her body, and was lucky to be alive.
She needed years of surgery and rehabilitation during her long road to recovery - and has never forgiven her mum to this day.Keen to make a difference to other young people like her, she's now training to be a burns nurse.
Speaking about her ordeal, Charity said her mum had become "desperate" when no off-the-shelf product worked to get rid of the pesky lice.
"It didn’t help that my extended family – sisters from my mum’s previous relationship – would visit and we would all get infected," she recalled.
"I’m not saying it was anybody’s fault, but it was definitely a vicious circle of kids getting too close and re-passing head lice from one to the other.
"Mum was desperate. We couldn’t afford to keep spending money on expensive treatments that weren’t working and she didn’t know what to do."
Deadly decision
Opting to try her grandmother's suggestion, Charity told how her mum coated her and her sister's heads in petrol before rinsing it off and putting their hair in braids.
She said: "I remember it smelt so horrible I was almost sick.
"We went downstairs and she started to cook dinner on the stove. I went to speak to her but she was smoking a cigarette and the ash fell onto my hair.
"Coupled with the kerosene and being stood next to a lit burner, I went up in flames like a bonfire.
"I remember my mum screaming but weirdly, I don’t remember the smell as almost my entire body caught fire.
"I believe that it was so traumatic I have filed it away in my memory somewhere."
Charity said she was told her mum - whom she claims is an alcoholic - wrapped her in a bath towel and carried her outside, suffering burns herself on her chest and arms.
A neighbour who saw the smoke and the fire called the emergency services and her mum ran inside to get her sister out of the house.
While her sister escaped un-injured, it was touch and go whether Charity would survive.
She said: "I was taken to a local hospital but my burns were so severe that I was airlifted to the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor which has a specialised burns unit.
"I was burned all over my face, my neck, my left arm and parts of my left leg.
"I had burns on my back and doctors said I had third degree burns over more than 60 per cent of my body."
Doctors put Charity in a medically induced coma for a couple of months while they carried out painful skin grafts and plastic surgeries.
"Really, I’m glad I don’t remember the pain that I must have felt," she said.
"I do remember the nurses and doctors being very kind to me, and the physical therapies I had daily to stretch my skin and to help me to walk again.
"I was so determined to be ‘normal’ and my goal was to go back to school to see my friends."
While Charity was lying in hospital fighting to survive, the local Child Protective Services banned her mum from being with her.
Her dad was eventually given full custody while she recovered.
Charity said it was an awful struggle when she eventually got to go home.
She explained: "I had surgeries on a regular basis and my dad was very over-protective of me, terrified that something else might happen.
"I was a lonely little girl. I wasn’t allowed to see friends after school and I rarely went out of the house.
"When I did people stared at me like I was some kind of an alien with my ugly red, scarred skin.
"Of course this made me very self-conscious and I didn’t want to go out anyway - until dad enrolled me at Great Lakes Burns Camp in Michigan when I was eight years old.
"For me, that was the turning point."
Fresh start
Charity said she finally learned to accept herself for who she was thanks to the counsellors and the friends she made.
She added: "I knew that I wasn’t alone anymore, that there were others who recognised what I was going through and who could help.
"And just as much as they helped me, I helped them with their own issues. I made the most incredible friends and I knew that one day, I wanted to inspire other burns victims to live their best lives.
"Part of my recovery was finally accepting that even though I am scarred, it’s what’s inside of me that counts and I knew that I would find someone who believed that too."
Charity now has a boyfriend, Jacob Trudell, 21, after the couple connected on a dating app.
She said: "I was drawn to him because his profile picture was of fire engines.
"I messaged him and we started dating in May 2018. Turns out that his dream is to be a fire-fighter and I felt that was a sign that we were well matched.
"He’s just been accepted into the local fire fighter programme. We now live together with his mum Rose and I am in college training to be a nurse when I’m not volunteering at burns camp, which is so precious to me.
"One day, I will be a burns unit nurse because I feel that’s my vocation in life.
"I know what being badly burned is like so I feel that I can make a big difference."
How do you treat head lice?
A variety of treatments to get rid of head lice are available to buy from pharmacies, supermarkets, as well as online and you don't usually need to visit your GP to tackle the problem.
The main treatments are:
- Lotions or sprays - While these can be very effective, certain varieties aren’t suitable for pregnant or breastfeeding women, or for kids under two
- Use a specially designed comb - This is can be done by everyone and is relatively inexpensive. However, several repetitions will be needed to do a thorough job.
- If you’re not sure which method is for you, it is well worth chatting to a pharmacist who will be able to advise your best options.
Charity still doesn't see her mum and said their relationship is "complicated".
She said: "I can never forgive her for what she did to me. She has never once apologised or accepted responsibility and that truly bothers me.
"It's fine because I can’t waste my precious time worrying about her.
"I still can’t believe that she thought it was okay to put kerosene on our hair – I’m just so glad that the same didn’t happen to my sister.
"I’d like to say to anyone in a similar situation to never give up on yourself or your dreams. Believe that you deserve to be happy and it will come."
Follow Charity on TikTok.
When she was four years old, Charity's mum doused her head in petrol that she'd syphoned off from their lawn mower in a desperate attempt to kill off the persistent parasites.
"It was my grandmother who came up with the idea," Charity, now 21, from Flint, Michigan, told The Sun.
"She told mum they used kerosene back in the day to treat head lice, and that it worked better than anything she'd been trying.
"Looking back, I don’t know how she could even think this was a possibility, it was so dangerous."
After coating her and her sister's heads with the highly flammable substance in the bath, Charity's mum then went downstairs to cook dinner.
But when she lit up a cigarette, a cluster of ash fell onto Charity's head and the little girl went up in flames.
Charity ended up with third degree burns covering 60 per cent of her body, and was lucky to be alive.
She needed years of surgery and rehabilitation during her long road to recovery - and has never forgiven her mum to this day.Keen to make a difference to other young people like her, she's now training to be a burns nurse.
Speaking about her ordeal, Charity said her mum had become "desperate" when no off-the-shelf product worked to get rid of the pesky lice.
"It didn’t help that my extended family – sisters from my mum’s previous relationship – would visit and we would all get infected," she recalled.
"I’m not saying it was anybody’s fault, but it was definitely a vicious circle of kids getting too close and re-passing head lice from one to the other.
"Mum was desperate. We couldn’t afford to keep spending money on expensive treatments that weren’t working and she didn’t know what to do."
Deadly decision
Opting to try her grandmother's suggestion, Charity told how her mum coated her and her sister's heads in petrol before rinsing it off and putting their hair in braids.
She said: "I remember it smelt so horrible I was almost sick.
"We went downstairs and she started to cook dinner on the stove. I went to speak to her but she was smoking a cigarette and the ash fell onto my hair.
"Coupled with the kerosene and being stood next to a lit burner, I went up in flames like a bonfire.
"I remember my mum screaming but weirdly, I don’t remember the smell as almost my entire body caught fire.
"I believe that it was so traumatic I have filed it away in my memory somewhere."
Charity said she was told her mum - whom she claims is an alcoholic - wrapped her in a bath towel and carried her outside, suffering burns herself on her chest and arms.
A neighbour who saw the smoke and the fire called the emergency services and her mum ran inside to get her sister out of the house.
While her sister escaped un-injured, it was touch and go whether Charity would survive.
She said: "I was taken to a local hospital but my burns were so severe that I was airlifted to the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor which has a specialised burns unit.
"I was burned all over my face, my neck, my left arm and parts of my left leg.
"I had burns on my back and doctors said I had third degree burns over more than 60 per cent of my body."
Doctors put Charity in a medically induced coma for a couple of months while they carried out painful skin grafts and plastic surgeries.
"Really, I’m glad I don’t remember the pain that I must have felt," she said.
"I do remember the nurses and doctors being very kind to me, and the physical therapies I had daily to stretch my skin and to help me to walk again.
"I was so determined to be ‘normal’ and my goal was to go back to school to see my friends."
While Charity was lying in hospital fighting to survive, the local Child Protective Services banned her mum from being with her.
Her dad was eventually given full custody while she recovered.
Charity said it was an awful struggle when she eventually got to go home.
She explained: "I had surgeries on a regular basis and my dad was very over-protective of me, terrified that something else might happen.
"I was a lonely little girl. I wasn’t allowed to see friends after school and I rarely went out of the house.
"When I did people stared at me like I was some kind of an alien with my ugly red, scarred skin.
"Of course this made me very self-conscious and I didn’t want to go out anyway - until dad enrolled me at Great Lakes Burns Camp in Michigan when I was eight years old.
"For me, that was the turning point."
Fresh start
Charity said she finally learned to accept herself for who she was thanks to the counsellors and the friends she made.
She added: "I knew that I wasn’t alone anymore, that there were others who recognised what I was going through and who could help.
"And just as much as they helped me, I helped them with their own issues. I made the most incredible friends and I knew that one day, I wanted to inspire other burns victims to live their best lives.
"Part of my recovery was finally accepting that even though I am scarred, it’s what’s inside of me that counts and I knew that I would find someone who believed that too."
Charity now has a boyfriend, Jacob Trudell, 21, after the couple connected on a dating app.
She said: "I was drawn to him because his profile picture was of fire engines.
"I messaged him and we started dating in May 2018. Turns out that his dream is to be a fire-fighter and I felt that was a sign that we were well matched.
"He’s just been accepted into the local fire fighter programme. We now live together with his mum Rose and I am in college training to be a nurse when I’m not volunteering at burns camp, which is so precious to me.
"One day, I will be a burns unit nurse because I feel that’s my vocation in life.
"I know what being badly burned is like so I feel that I can make a big difference."
How do you treat head lice?
A variety of treatments to get rid of head lice are available to buy from pharmacies, supermarkets, as well as online and you don't usually need to visit your GP to tackle the problem.
The main treatments are:
- Lotions or sprays - While these can be very effective, certain varieties aren’t suitable for pregnant or breastfeeding women, or for kids under two
- Use a specially designed comb - This is can be done by everyone and is relatively inexpensive. However, several repetitions will be needed to do a thorough job.
- If you’re not sure which method is for you, it is well worth chatting to a pharmacist who will be able to advise your best options.
Charity still doesn't see her mum and said their relationship is "complicated".
She said: "I can never forgive her for what she did to me. She has never once apologised or accepted responsibility and that truly bothers me.
"It's fine because I can’t waste my precious time worrying about her.
"I still can’t believe that she thought it was okay to put kerosene on our hair – I’m just so glad that the same didn’t happen to my sister.
"I’d like to say to anyone in a similar situation to never give up on yourself or your dreams. Believe that you deserve to be happy and it will come."
Follow Charity on TikTok.
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