A toddler was left with second-degree burns after scalding herself with hot tea.
Bella was just one and a half when she was rushed to hospital after pulling a mug off a table to spilling its contents down her chest.
She required one-hour surgery at a specialist burns facility and a three-day stay to recover.
Her parents, Tom Lomas and Alexandra Bennett have decided to share the horrific story of what happened to her to serve as a cautionary warning to other parents.
This comes as burn specialists in the South West have also urged parents to be extra careful around hot drinks following the release of statistics showing that last year 149 children were seriously scalded and needed specialist treatment in the region - most under the age of two.
The total for the past decade in the region is now 1830.
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Tom, who lives with his partner and Bella's mum Alexandra, has described the horrific moment which he says 'happened in the blink of an eye'.
“It was breakfast time, and we’d put a cup of tea on the table as we always do, assuming it was out of reach. The hot water in the cup had been out of the kettle for less than three minutes.
Bella was very confident on her feet for such a young age, the handle of the cup was facing the edge of the table. Bella grabbed the mug, which was quite heavy. As it fell, she looked down and the hot drink spilt from her chin, shoulders and sternum.”
Tom immediately removed the young girl's dressing gown and baby grow but he and Alexandra were horrified to see that her skin was peeling away from her chest, with the latter screaming at the sight.
"We called 999 who advised us to take her into a cool bath and pour cool water over the area," Tom said.
“I took her into the bath first, my adrenalin had kicked in to take action, knowing that my partner was distraught.
“Six paramedics rushed in; my partner took over in the bath continuing to cool the burn. I’ll never forget the moment one of the paramedics took me aside and said ‘You are not bad parents,’ at this point the reality of what had happened kicked in and I felt the lowest I’d ever felt in my life."
After being rushed to hospital Bella was taken to surgery within two hours of arriving because the burn made up between 11 per cent and 13 per cent of her body, and her chest had second and first-degree burns.
“It was the longest hour of my life waiting for Bella to come out of the operating theatre.”
Bella, now 2, spent three days in hospital. Since then, there have been numerous trips to the hospital to change her dressings, a further surgery, and Bella is still receiving treatment with silicone gel and wears a pressure garment every day to help treat her scarring.
Tom added: “It’s been emotional, and Bella has been through so much.
“In the past eight months, Bella’s gone through two surgeries and 15 to 20 trips to the hospital to be where we are today. But despite everything she’s still a two-year-old who wants to go to the park and play with trains.
Tom said he has shared his family’s experience, working with the Children’s Burns Trust, in a bid to prevent another family from seeing their child go through the same ordeal as their daughter.
“We’re very grateful to all the NHS teams who have done an amazing job, not just looking after Bella, but also looking after myself and Alexandra. We also know Bella was very lucky not to have been more badly scalded.”
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