Katharina Buczek
In March of 2020, just one month after she was discharged from the hospital, Natalie began sharing her story on her Instagram account, @NatalieSkyye.
“I am not 100% better. My body is still burned. I still have therapy, and I still have surgeries to undergo. I still struggle with the way I look and how others look at me,” she began in a post on March 9, 2020.
“But I made it to my seventeenth birthday, and I am going to heal.”
And ever since then, Natalie has continued to document the most intimate parts of her journey. She has shared everything from the hardships of dealing with scarring and surgeries to her triumphs– like graduating from high school and starting cosmetology school this past summer.
Throughout it all, though, Natalie has never stopped smiling or giving thanks for her recovery journey. And her transparency and dedication to positivity have helped inspire her over twenty-one thousand Instagram followers to feel confident in their own skin.
“Can y’all believe two years ago I had my neck surgery done? Does anyone remember that time? The healing and the anticipation?” she asked in an Instagram post this past August.
“I have never had to practice so much patience, but I guess it paid off! Celebrating these little victories truly makes me feel more proud of myself– because I struggled hard for a long time. And I am just happy to be where I am now.”
To keep up with Natalie as she heals, to educate yourself about burn survivorship, and support her journey, you can visit her Instagram account linked here.
If true crime defines your free time, this is for you: join Chip Chick’s True Crime Tribe
