My burnt body P

Gazing proudly at the cherubic face of her perfectly formed 3-monthold son, Bianca Aravena knows she’s a lucky, lucky woman.

After trying for two years to become a mum, the 33-year-old is relishing her new role, despite the long days and constant sleeplessness.

But while Kylo’s healthy arrival is a source of amazement for Bianca and husband Troy Hopkins, 32, so was the journey to his birth, after a lifethreatening event 19 years ago. Hanging with friends in a local park, the then 14-year-old came across her old boyfriend, who was fooling around with mates and an ice-cream container full of fuel. He lit the accelerant then kicked it Bianca’s direction, setting off a chain of events that would literally scar the teenager forever.

“I was so shocked and terrified at being on fire, I ran blindly straight through the wooden fence of one of the properties that backed onto the park,” recalls Bianca.

In hospital, doctors estimated about 65 per cent of her skin had melted, which was most of the right hand side of her body, despite first-aid from friends and bystanders.

The innocent teen would spend five months in hospital, braving 13 operations from her face to her feet. Three of those months were spent in a coma and she would die four times before being brought back to

“From about the age of 18, the questions were always in the back of my mind. Would I be able to carry a child? Would the scars around my stomach stretch enough?’’ she says.

“When I fell pregnant with Kylo, I even brought it up with my doctor. She just told me to wait until later in the pregnancy and if it became a problem, we’d address it then.

“But my body stretched well, helped by the fact that I’m chunky and curvy, I think. My whole right side was burnt but my scar tissue was more flexible than I’d imagined.”

On the last day of April, little Kylo Bhodi Hopkins made his

Bianca suffered burns to 65 per cent of her body.

“I WORRIED ABOUT IF I WOULD BE ABLE TO CARRY A CHILD ...”