More Burn Books By Survivors and Others that are well worth checking out from the 'Burn Support Groups Data Base" run by Rudy Peleman, BSc (Hon), Treasurer, St Lawrence Hospital Burns Unit Fund, Morriston Hospital, Swansea, UK and Board member, Burn Survivors Association-UK. 
E-mail: rudy@burnsupportgroupsdatabase.com, Website: http://www.burnsupportgroupsdatabase.com

Read Delores' other articles: [Safety at the Gaspumps] [A Valentine] [Hurting Angels] [Tragedy at a Night Club] [College Fires & Staying Safe] [How Safe Is Our Clothing?] [Preventing Heating Related Fires]

The Hurting Angels

This FREE  book is available from Delores' own site, as well as from this site.  It is in .pdf format so you will need the Acrobat Reader to access it.  This is available free for downloading from Adobe and is a very useful application to have as many publications are now available over the net in this format.  Click here to download it: 

Background on The Hurting Angels  (Quoted directly from the introduction off  the Fire Marshals site.)

In 1999 a woman from northern Ohio named Delores Lekowski called NASFM (National Association of State Fire Marshals) after receiving a letter we sent out to burn survivor organizations. She said, "I like what NASFM is doing to try to make the world a safer place. How can I help?"

So we told her about some of our consumer product fire safety initiatives, and suggested things she could do to support our efforts. And support us she has. Delores has talked with newspaper and TV reporters. She has written to members of Congress. She has contacted product manufacturers. She has carried our cause to the Shriners and other organizations that have offered their help. And she keeps asking: "What next? How else can I help?"

In the course of working with Delores, we learned her remarkable story. When she was 10 years old, she was burning trash in her backyard when her dress caught fire. She was severely burned over 85 percent of her body and was not expected to live. She had many setbacks over the course of the painful and frightening year she spent in the hospital. She underwent countless surgeries and therapy. But with the love of her family, the grace of God and an abiding optimism and faith, she miraculously survived. 

Delores has gone on to lead a full and satisfying life. She has 3 children and 8 grandchildren. She is active in the Phoenix Society (an organization for burn survivors and their families) and works with other burn and trauma survivors, helping them to manage the various social, school and job situations that can be so intimidating when someone feels "different."

We learned that in her intense desire to help others, Delores had written a message to all children who had suffered burns, illness or other trauma that might hurt their self-esteem. She called it "The Hurting Angels." 

All Delores wanted was to get her words of hope into the hands of these children, to assure them that they were special, that it was OK to be sad, and that the emotional and physical pain would heal. Delores is living proof of that. 

But there was one problem. The manuscript had sat for many years in a drawer. And as hard as she tried, she wasn’t able to find the way to turn her book into a reality. Not for personal gain, and not for fame – just an unselfish desire to make the world a better place.

Given the extent to which Delores has helped our cause with no expectation of return, it seemed natural for us to help her as much as we could. So we arranged for a talented illustrator, Howard Sparber, to bring her words to life with his delightful drawings. We then put the booklet into electronic "pdf" format so that others can print and distribute it easily.

At NASFM’s annual conference in July 2000, the NASFM Board and Public Education Committee accepted the opportunity to help get the word out about Delores’s special book to all organizations that deal with Hurting Angels. The goal would be for these groups to take it, print it and distribute it where it can do the most good.

Please download this booklet and help Delores fulfill her mission – to reach those individuals, young and not-so-young, who can most benefit from her comforting words and inspiring example.  This is from this site, to download from Delores' home site: Download from Delores' Site.  Note: the file is 451 kb so it will take a minute or two to download on a 56k connection.

Be sure to visit the "Hurting Angels web site at: http://www.thehurtingangels.com/index.htm, as well as the US Firemarshall's site who originally sponsored Delores':  www.firemarshals.org

Note: This book can be personalised by putting a picture of your child in the designated place. Once you have downloaded it and read it through - takes about 5 minutes - you will see where it goes. Waikato Burn Support.