Abbey Alexander, Teacher Burned In Cambodia, Handles Scars With Humor

FIRESTONE, Colo. (CBS4) - A young teacher, badly burned in an explosion in Cambodia, is now recovering at her home in Firestone. Abbey Alexander spent nearly two months in the Burn Center at UCHealth. She still has some surgeries ahead, but she is in good spirits.

Abbey handles her situation with humor.

"I was a lot prettier before this," Abbey said with a laugh.

She explained that's what she tells people when they stare are her scars and skin grafts. On Aug. 14, Abbey caught fire.

"It was a huge explosion. It shook the whole school," Abbey told CBS4 Health Specialist Kathy Walsh in her first interview.

Abbey was teaching and living with her boyfriend, Brian Mendez-Padilla, in Cambodia. She was on a motorbike when a gas station exploded.

"It's just like a huge boom, and then I could seriously watch the fire come out in front of me and go back because we were caught in the fireball," she explained.

The 18 year old had third degree burns over nearly 40% of her body.

"At the first clinic (in Cambodia) they tried to put me in a bucket of ice water," Abbey said.

It took her parents a dozen days and help from UCHealth to get Abbey to the UCHealth Burn Center in Colorado.

"I'm definitely grateful to be alive," she said.

She's grateful for Brian, now her husband, and thankful for the staff at the Burn Center.

"The nurses are what kept me sane," Abbey said.

They've inspired Abbey to start nursing school in January. In December, she'll have laser therapy on her scars and surgery to give her left arm mobility.

"This is as straight as it goes now," she said showing her arm bent at the elbow.

Abbey doesn't dwell on her ordeal. She believes it has made her stronger.

"Like, I have cool scars," she said. "It shows I lived through something."