Best – 20 August 2019

14 FACEBOOK.COM/BESTMAGAZINE

Simon and

Lauren turned up

to offer support

Proud

Katie at

the launch

where burns patients

can take ‘therapy

walks’ on top of their

treatment, do sports

or simply take time out

from the enormity of

what they’re dealing

with. The centre aims

to treat 20 patients

in its first 12 months,

offering adapted,

on-site bungalow

accommodation. And if

Katie, 35, should tell a

badly disfigured patient

that they ‘can do this’,

it’s no cliché – she’s

been there. Mum

to daughters

Penelope, 20

months, and

Belle, five, Katie

survived a brutal

acid attack in

north London

in 2008, ordered

by a vengeful

ex-boyfriend,

that left her

blind in one eye

and needing

more than 250

operations.

A decade on, she

is an adoring

mum, successful

presenter, and

businesswoman.

She continues to

deal with ongoing

health problems

and give back to

those in need...

Katie, how does it

feel to have opened

your own specialist

burns unit?

It’s surreal, and it’s

amazing – even if it

T

he Katie Piper

Foundation

Rehabilitation

Centre is set in the

green, peaceful

grounds of the

Fairfield Independent

Hospital in St Helens,

Merseyside. It’s a place

As best goes behind the scenes with

Katie Piper at her newly opened burns

rehabilitation centre, the lady herself

explains just what it means to tell

others that they ‘can do this’...

‘It’s going to be

OK’ are very

powerf ul words