About 28 years ago, I was a young mother of 3 children trying to make ends meet. In order to stay home with them in the daytime and care for my youngest nursing baby, while the others were in 1st grade and preschool, I did AVON, Tupperware, Amway, freelance writing for the News Chronicle, babysitting, sewing and ironing for the neighbors, and a newspaper route at night.
My first husband did the first part of the route and then would switch so the children were never alone. When he gave me the car, he failed to warn me that he had just had a fender bender in the middle of the night. I went on the route and due to a damaged fan/fan belt, the car started to over heat. The alternator was not working and the headlights were dying. I could hardly see to drive and the car was getting too hot, so I found a gas station and decided to put water in the tank. After a few attempts to get the cap off and wait patiently to make sure nothing would spray out, I leaned over the hole to see if I could see any fluids at all in there. When I did, a delayed reaction, a virtual snake of water as in "The Abyss" came out and made impact with my face, including mouth and neck, then followed me, blowing my glasses off and hitting my chest, arm and thigh as I turned to flee.
The pain was searing followed by the anguish that the station, at 4:30 in the morning, did not have any hoses attached to the outside of the station, and of course, they had turned the pressure way down on the water to keep people from stealing water, so as I tried to splash sprinkles of water on myself, the blisters started spewing and growing to the size of lemons. I could look down and on my chest, I could see the water from my own system, dance inside the blister as if I had sprinkled water on a grill. My skin was hissing and blisters were growing exponentially until I could barely close my mouth and my ability to speak was impaired. Fighting to survive, as I could not breathe out of my mouth and one nostril, I rushed to the car and grabbed a handful of change and ran to the phone booth. This was the pre-cell phone era of 1983. I first tried to call the newspaper office, but everyone had left. I tried to call my sleeping husband, but the battery on the other car was dead and he said he couldn't leave the kids alone. He told me that an ambulance was out of the question and if I called one, I would be responsible for the payment if the insurance did not pay for it. (That first husband was a tad on the emotionally abusive side). I called a friend, Karma who was up getting her kids ready for an early morning religion class called Seminary. She said she would be right there.
While I decided I might be able to survive this, I turned around in the phone booth to see a man, who apparently had heard my screams from the gas station across the street and was trying to be a good Samaritan. He was standing exactly in front of me with eyes wide open. Staring at me in horror, his wild eyes told me that I was probably going to be attacked or raped. Suddenly, he started screaming, "Oh my GOD, look at her face!", over and over again as he ran away. I sank to the bottom of the booth in shock and relief and disbelief that at least I could be grateful that I had been saved from multiple traumas that day.
I got my wits about me and my Girl Scout training kicked in. I took off my wet sweatshirt and made my way to the car. The doors were open, water was on the ground, money was all over the ground and I, as calmly as I could, rolled up the sweatshirt and placed it under my feet, lay back and did Lamaze type breathing to try to calm myself down. I thought I could last until my friend got there when suddenly the Samaritan returned, now screaming that he could help me.
I was a little panicked, in shock and he told me to lie still and he, with black greasy hands, proceeded to rub a first aid cream with the consistency of lard on the hissing blisters. Of course, with the lemon sized taut skin, the cream melted instantaneously and the blisters started ripping open at his touch. He was crying and a voice told me to do what I could to calm him down, because clearly he was negatively impacted by this event. My right hand had one huge blister the size of the entire hand, so I reached over with my good hand and touched his arm and tried to nod that it was going to be ok. He ran out of cream in nothing flat, turned and disappeared into the morning fog.
Moments later, my friend Karma arrived, helped me into the car where we proceeded to the emergency room. Not knowing if my insurance would cover the Sherman Oaks Burn Center, I opted for the local emergency room, where a series of mistakes were made, leaving me wrapped like a mummy, with a serious and almost fatal infection called pseudomonas from the bacteria in the hospital, resulting in 3 weeks of antibiotic in patient stay, and severe keloid scars.
Fast forward 9 years. Depression and 2 burn repair surgeries had removed some of the scaring but I was still horribly depressed and my husband was interested in far prettier young things. I was a failure and contemplating exits. I, even knowing that I had worth to my Heavenly Father, felt I had no worth on this earth. Then the love of and for my children kept me going and I could not bear the thought of abandoning them with a selfish action, so I turned to ANEW which after using on a regular regimen, slowly but surely started repairing my skin and dissolving the scar tissue.
Now, 28 years later, 5 children and an adoring NEW, appreciative, supporting " high school sweetheart" husband, I am a moments away Advanced Unit Leader in progress, and my skin certainly does not make me look like the 60 year old woman that I will be in November. I am an AVON miracle. AVON does not promise this will work for all people, but I am telling you that when you see the scars on my chest, you would never believe that the face and chest were in the same accident.
Now, my regimen is to use ANEW Platinum serum at night while I sleep after I put the ANEW night cream on my face while kicking back and watching television. I put it on and even though I have thoroughly removed my make up and washed my face with 1) remover wipes and 2) ANEW Platinum cleanser, I am always aghast at what happens next. After I put a thin layer of the Night cream or Night Emulsion on, I wait about 15 minutes then start to rub in gentle circles. Within minutes, brown dead skin is rolling off and my face is as soft as a baby's skin.
I love ANEW - let me show you the newest product in the line with the 50 SPF to help you with protecting your skin from the sun. Call me today and let me show you how you can help others solve their skin problems and make some cash to save your little family in this economy.
Karen S Meyer,
Avon Unit Leader, Elite DSWA Coach
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