When Halie Tennant went on a spontaneous camping trip with her friend, she was hoping for an enjoyable night away.

But that night, the 29-year-old, from Victoria, Australia, fell head first into the campfire while asleep.

Her friend who had joined her on the trip woke up to a strange noise and was shocked to find Halie’s head in the fire, making no attempt to move.

The primary school teacher has little recollection of what happened on the night of May 30 but she believes the chair must have tipped with her falling onto the blaze.

Springing into action, her friend pulled Halie from the fire, quite possibly saving her life, and poured ice-cold water over Halie’s face in order to cool it down. 

With Halie being unaware of what had happened, the pair drove the short one-mile ride home where Halie’s husband Mathew was.

Halie explained: ‘My friend heard a weird noise and before she even registered what she was seeing, she was out of bed and running towards me.

‘I was face first in our campfire and I was making no effort to get out.

‘I don’t remember any pain, I remember asking Mathew to love me no matter what and him saying yes.’

He kept her calm and her face as cool as possible by running it under a cold tap as an ambulance and medevac helicopter made their way to the scene. 

With the response staff quickly realising the severity of her injuries, Halie was rushed to the ICU at The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, where she was immediately placed in a coma for eight days, before being moved to the burns ward to start her recovery. 

Now, there is a long way for Halie to go, as she has already spent over two and a half months in hospital, having six surgeries including the removal of damaged skin and skin grafts to the face, neck, eyelids, and mouth.

Despite making good progress, the healing process has not been without its problems.

Due to the pandemic, Halie’s treatment was made harder as she was unable to see family and friends.

She said: ‘Covid was the hardest part of my recovery, I really missed my family and friends. While in ICU I was only allowed one visitor for one hour per day so Mathew, my mum and my dad took turns sitting with me.  

‘I was released from hospital for a week and a half and had to be readmitted due to my eyelids not touching.

‘Once this was fixed, the surgeons looked at me again when we were getting ready to discharge and made the call to operate again on my mouth, as it couldn’t open enough to eat something of a fork or spoon.’

Halie is now coming to terms with the accident but she admits it has been very difficult.

‘The hardest thing was losing my identity, I’m not a vain person, but your face and its characteristics are important in how you recognise yourself. Not knowing who you are any more is a hard thing to come to terms with. 

‘The only comment I have received in person outside the hospital was a man walking past and he told me “you look like a zombie” and kept walking.’

Halie is thankful for the outpouring of support she has received from well-wishers online, her family and her husband Mathew, and is trying to find every positive in the situation she finds herself in. 

She added: ‘My biggest supporter would have to be my rock, my husband, Mathew followed by my best friends, parents and my own personal cheer squad on a Facebook group.

‘I am unable to work, I currently can’t drive, but I have a better outlook on life.  

‘I think of my accident as a wake-up call, a second chance to do better, to be better, and to look after me better.’

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