A MUM-OF-TWO told how she turned into a living fireball after slipping in petrol before she was consumed by flames in a backyard fire.
Louise Chadwick, 39, decided to set the remains of a ripped-out wardrobe alight in the garden of her home in Radcliffe, Manchester – using petrol to get it going.
But she didn't notice someone had already set the pile alight when she began dousing the wood with gasoline – it burst into roaring flames which quickly took hold of the whole garden.
Louise suffered third-degree burns over the lower-half of her body and her arms – and has PTSD from the trauma.
Louise told the Mirror: "At first I was in complete shock.
"Everything happened so fast from the moment I poured the petrol to the horror that came afterwards."
In her panic, the petrol can had tipped over the grass – and soaked through Louise's clothes.
"My arms went up first, but things really got serious when I slipped and drenched myself in petrol fluid."
"That's when my pyjama bottoms set alight and the flames started to rise up towards my torso.
"I could feel the heat quickly nearing my face, but I couldn't get my trousers off because I was wearing my partners slippers."
Louise said it felt like she was "burning for a lifetime" and feared she would die – before she and her 19-year-old daughter Georgia Mulbey were able to put out the flames.
The mum was airlifted to hospital – where she spent two weeks in intensive care.
Louise added: "Every day that goes by I still think about what happened.
"The scars on my body have healed as much as they ever will, but it's my mental health that's been damaged the most.
"The first time I went to fill my car up since the accident I started screaming in the middle of the petrol station – in that moment I felt so much fear.
"I've had countless nightmares where I've woken up thinking I was burning and my kids have had to come in and calm me down."
Louise – a hair and makeup artist – now works with burn victims to help them feel more confident in their appearance.
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