'I've had 30 ops after surviving gas blast at 10 – then I was crowned beauty queen'

EXCLUSIVE: Danette Burzlaff-Haag suffered horror injuries to nearly 70% of her body when her house exploded with 27 people inside during an event - but she didn't let her scars hold her back

Danette Burzlaff-Haag remembers everything from when her house was destroyed with 27 people inside.

Her family were holding an event for local children in their Iowa home when a faulty valve in the furnace caused a gas leak. When Haag’s mother turned on the hot water, it ignited the fumes, and the house went up in flames.

A ball of fire emerged from the basement stairs, engulfing 10-year-old Danette and the house, and everything inside was destroyed.

Danette suffered third-degree burns to nearly 70% of her body, and she and her dad endured life-threatening injuries, but miraculously everyone survived.

"I had an emergency tracheotomy and was attached to a ventilator to keep me alive.

"I was in the burn centre for months and was in and out of the hospital for reconstructive surgeries until I was 20.

"I have had more surgeries than I can count (somewhere around 30), most of which were skin grafts, creating more wounds and adding to the extent of my forever scars," Danette, who now lives in Windsor, Colorado remembers.

While she survived the explosion, rebuilding her life while experiencing significant scarring, was difficult.

She had to wear pressure garments, splints, and face masks throughout her school years, which made life "emotionally excruciating," and she had to get used to having a scar-covered body.

She believed she’d have to give up her dream of becoming a beauty queen.

"I knew I didn't fit in and felt like I never would. I was hopeless, helpless, and devastated throughout my teen years and beyond," Danette, now 53, remembers.

But she worked on her mindset in resilience, and in 2019, she entered her first beauty pageant, eventually being crowned Mrs Colorado, which meant she was the first severely scarred woman to win the title, as well as one of the oldest.

"It took me three years of competing to win the Mrs Colorado pageant, but really it was a lifetime of intentional inner healing, and self-acceptance that got me there.

I had to build the courage to embrace my many scars as something powerful and not something tied to shame, which is what this world has often taught me through staring, snide comments and an immense amount of rejection.

"When I was given the banner reading, 'Mrs. Colorado' and the crown was placed upon me, it was a glorious moment.

"Not only for the confident, beautiful woman I had become, but also for that little 10-year-old girl that had lost everything in one fateful moment," she explains.

"I was absolutely a victim once; however it didn't serve me to stay under that label for very long - something I understood even as a young child. I am proudly a burn survivor. I have had to learn to see myself as much more than my injury in order to accomplish all that I have," she says.

Danette, a mum of four and paediatric nurse, also works as a mindset life coach and has written a book ‘Beauty From Ashes: Transforming Wounds into Wisdom; Scars into Stars’ about her experiences.

"I have had to do some major mindset work to see beauty beyond my scar covered body. I have been stared at every day for the last 43 years - every day of my life. My confidence and beautiful energy has quieted most of the snide comments, but the staring continues.

"Today I see my scars as God's masterpiece - created when I walked through fire as a child. When you see a unique piece of art, you have to stop and stare at it. You admire it and maybe even learn something from it in some way. So, today, when someone is admiring my scars, learning from my injury or inspired by my courage - I don't even have to say a word.

"This beautiful thought process keeps me smiling and moving on with my day, not stealing my joy like it used to and creates a much better situation for all involved. This mindset has been the secret to my success. Today, I see myself much differently than I did for most of my broken years having to carry the heaviness of my trauma and the scars that are a constant reminder."

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