Freshsein
A great deal of people take pleasure in the calming effects of scented candles in our homes. However for Ashley Brawley and her close ones, something so ordinary was close to having a tragic ending. On July 23, a Texas mother (29) of four, lit up a Bath and Body Works candle and went in to take a shower. After some time had passed, she began to smell something odd.
Ashley went to take a closer look at the candle. By that point the flame was so large it was about to burn the piece of furniture on which the candle was standing. Ashley did what anyone would do: she tried to put the candle out. As these candles cannot be extinguished with water, she tried to blow it out. At that moment, the worst happened. The house security camera captured it all.
Instead of going out, the candle exploded onto Ashley’s face. She began to scream and desperately called for her husband Cody. In the video you can see him rush to his wife and try to sooth the burns with cold water and aloe vera. But Ashley’s skin was already raw, her lips had turned white and she had severe burns on her nose.
Cody took a pair of oven mitts and carried the candle outside to prevent the furniture and the house catching fire. He then ran back inside and took his wife to the emergency room. Ashley was in so much pain that she had to be sedated with morphine so her wounds could be treated. She suffered first and second degree burns to her face, and all because of a scented candle!
Though the skin on Ashley’s face was severely burned, it thankfully began to heal after the first week. The manufacturer of the candle has since contacted the family, offered to pay for her medical expenses, and gave her a gift voucher worth $25.
“Our offer of reimbursement for the cost of the product is in no way meant to be compensation for her experience,” Tammy Roberts Myers, vice president of communications at L Brands, the parent company of Bath and Body Works, wrote in a statement. “We are very sorry that this happened and are taking this situation extremely seriously. The safety of our customers is our number-one priority (…) We hope to work with the Brawleys to gather additional details and are committed to doing what’s right.”
Nevertheless, Ashley will never forget the shock and the pain she experienced. She still doesn’t know whether her face will heal completely or if she will be left with scars to remind her of her terrible ordeal. Nobody should ever go through something like this for just blowing out a candle! We hope companies will take more responsibility for their products and their clients so that incidents like this one don’t happen again.