Ohio hospital ‘made my life free,’ burn survivor from Uzbekistan says

COLUMBUS, OHIO — One day in 2011 when she was 12 years old, Kamola Teshayeva forgot to turn off the propane her family used for cooking and to heat their home in Uzbekistan.

When she turned on the light in the room where the propane was stored, it erupted in flames that engulfed nearly half her body, severely burning her left arm, torso and neck and part of her face.

She awoke from 45-day coma covered with painful scars, her left arm stuck in a permanent flex because of scar tissue.

But now, after moving across the world from Asia to central Ohio and undergoing 12 surgeries at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Teshayeva says she barely recognizes the girl covered in burns in her parents’ photos. And, thankfully, the now-20-yearold said she hardly remembers those times.

A cadet in the school’s Air Force Junior ROTC, she plans to enlist in the Air Force immediately after high school and eventually attend college to become a traveling nurse. Teshayeva and her family credit her supportive school, part of the South-Western district, and her caregivers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital with changing her life.

She was once unable to move her injured arm. Today, she can do burpees, jumping jacks and other training drills and clap as she cheers on her fellow cadets.

She has played tennis. She’s learned English. She works part time as a cashier at the Home Depot store in Hilliard. She confidently takes new students on tours through her school, never concerned that they’ll question her appearance.

Nearly every morning, the 20-year-old is among the first to arrive at the school of about 2,000 students, greeting the central office employees with smiles and hugs. She volunteers there regularly, helping whenever odd jobs pop up.

About six months after the accident, Nationwide Children’s Hospital agreed to cover the entire cost of Teshayeva’s treatments as one of the hospital’s international charity cases. Her father, Akmal Asadov, now 48, had written a plea to the hospital for help, including photos.

Without the hospital’s generosity, Teshayeva might have eventually lost permanent function in her left arm and risked further skin complications as an adult, including cancer, said Dr. Greg Pearson, the pediatric plastic surgeon who treated her.

Teshayeva said the technology and health care available at Nationwide Children’s has made her life worth living again, she said.

“They helped me become a normal person,” Teshayeva said. “They made my life free.”

COURTNEY HERGESHEIMER / COLUMBUS DISPATCH / TNS Kamola Teshayeva, who is having her shirt fixed by her mother, Nargiza Sharopova, suffered severe burns in a cooking accident when she was 12 in her home country of Uzbekistan. Teshayeva eventually came to the United States for life-changing treatment.