You can’t always expect life to go the way you plan. Nobody knows that truth better than Courtney Waldon.
While camping with her husband and 5-year-old daughter, Caroline, in September 2016, Courtney’s life changed in an instant. Hoping to keep the campfire going a while longer, her husband poured gasoline onto the flame.
Within seconds, Courtney’s body became engulfed in the blaze. It was the worst pain she’d ever felt in her life.
Paramedics rushed her to the hospital as Courtney begged God to forgive her. More than 40 percent of her body was burned, and she truly thought she was dying.
At the hospital, doctors placed Courtney into a medically-induced coma, which lasted for weeks. Her face was swollen, her lips were huge and her tongue was so swollen it was bursting out of her mouth.
She stayed in the hospital for 51 days—away from her husband and daughter—undergoing surgeries and therapy to re-learn everything. She was pretty much like an adult baby—learning how to walk, talk, eat and move “regularly” again.
“I went from being the very pretty girl, just married, had my life in order, to barely being able to dress myself and needing help for everything and having to learn how to do things over again,” she says.
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As if she hadn’t been through enough already, Courtney’s husband decided to leave her and Caroline after the accident. She was homeless with no belongings, no income and more than $2 million in medical bills.
But not all was lost. Courtney still had Caroline.
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With the help of a local church pastor who had heard Courtney’s story, the community rallied around this beautiful mama to support her.