FIRE EATER BACK FROM BURNS HELL
Flames scorch Sophie’s face
A FIRE dancer was badly burned in a freak accident when an air-con blew flames back into her face.
Brit Sophie Lee, 23, was overjoyed to be booked for a huge event in Chicago in April.
But her dreams were shattered when her act went disastrously wrong.
The air-con in the venue was too strong and blasted a fireball back at her. Sophie said: “Instinctively I closed my eyes and my face went up in flames.
“I tried to be professional as it happened in front of everyone. But as soon as I got into the ambulance I was in bits.”
Sophie spent a month in hospital in America recovering from nasty burns to her face and throat.
She added: “I didn’t think it would be as bad as it was. I was pretty out of it but on day two I looked in the mirror and just cried.
“My family wanted to come out and it’s really hard to explain but I just wanted to be on my own.
“I remember when I first opened my eyes I couldn’t breathe as my throat had been burned. I had trouble breathing.
“Just being able to speak, swallow or eat – they are daily necessities that we just expect.
“When that’s taken away from you – and you have no option but to just lie there – it’s the most grounding and humbling experience any human can ever go through.”
Sophie, of Darwen, Lancs, began performing as a child. When she graduated from dance college she went on to learn stilt-walking and fire-breathing to add to her act. She said: “When I got booked to do a job in Chicago I couldn’t believe it. “There was nothing that indicated that anything was going to go wrong.
“Every time you perform with fire there’s a risk, but you never think it’s going to happen to you.”
Because of her scars, Sophie – who is in legal talks with the organisers of the Chicago event – is now fronting a national anti-bullying campaign.
See Sophie’s journey on Instagram@sophielee and the #BlendOutBullying campaign on social media.