My Journey to Sunlight

At the age of 4 Melinda de Vos was in a chemical fire explosion that left her with 3rd degree burns to her hands, arms and face. Between the ages of 4 and 16, Melinda had many operations to repair the damage, including the grafting of skin from her leg, but has been left with significant scarring. This is something Melinda is very self concious about and will not wear any clothing that reveals her scars. A few months ago, the idea of tatooing over the scar tissues was suggested to Melinda, and with the support of her finance Josh, her best friend Angie and her tatooist Emma Kerr from Spacifik Ink, she took the plunge and started a journey to finally be able to walk free in the world, uncovered for the first time in 31 years with the ultimate goal of wearing a dress, and My Journey to Sunlight was born. As Melinda has been unable to work since the arrival of her special needs daughter Ella, she is relying on fundraising to make her dream come true. Thanks to generous support from the community, Emma has started work on Melinda’s right arm, which is currently about half complete.

Our goal is to fund the completion of both arms, which even with a significant discount from Emma, will cost at least $1500. To put our own bodies on the line, one of us will get tattooed with a publicly voted image if we reach the fundraising goal within 2 weeks (we are a bit wimpy and have never been tattooed before!) So if you are kind enough to make a donation, please comment whether you’d like Martin or Sarah to get tattooed. And thank you so much!

Here’s what Melinda has to say:

A day never passes when I don't feel the burden of the scars on my body. What happened to me was an accident, I hold no blame and it is what it is.. BUT it doesn't mean I don't feel like I miss out on so much...., not being able to enjoy the little things in life like wearing a summer dress and feeling the sunlight on my skin is such a normal thing for most and something taken for granted by so many.

People say I'm beautiful and to embrace my scars and to not be afraid, but I don't feel beautiful. I just cant embrace them no matter how hard I try, feeling like your judged and often made to feel ugly and questioned by strangers is the most hideous thing anyone has to go through , there are many memories I try and forget and as I have got older it has got a bit easier out in the public eye, even though adults can be just as cruel as children.

The small amount of tattoo that has been done already ( as shown in the pics), has allowed me to have that partial piece of arm exposed - I actually feel proud of it, that in itself is like a dream come true, so close to being normal like everyone else, people seeing colour and beauty on my skin , not the scarred mess below that only reminded me of what I had lost.