Burn Survivors Trade In Hospital Visits For Day At The Beach

MALIBU (CBSLA.com) — A group of burn survivors traded in treatments and hospital visits Tuesday for surf and sand.

"It's like you don't focus on your burns anymore. You focus on being out there and having fun. Just being yourself," said Yara Heredia, who is in her sixth year at Camp Gung-Ho. Her legs were severely burned in a fire when she was 9.

The Children's Burn Foundation now pays for her medical care, but it doesn't stop there as healing her emotional scars is just as important.

And they do that by bringing children together who have walked in each other's shoes.

"Like my mom, she would try to talk to me about my burns but it isn't the same as talking to another burn survivor," she said.

Camp Gung-Ho is one of five events that the Children's Burn Foundation puts on each year for these kids. That's on top of support groups every other week, and if the families can't afford to get to the hospital for their treatments, the foundation pays for that too.

Cydney Collins went from camper to counselor.

"They may feel insecure about their burns and then they see me show up and I'm just wearing my shorts with my burns showing," she said.

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