FARNHAM resident Grada Helsdon is raising money for the Burns Unit at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, which helped and supported her after a cooking mishap left a quarter of her body seriously burned.

In April earlier this year, Grada returned home after a walk and decided to make a Mary Berry recipe, Ham Hock Terrine.

Following an online ‘pop up’ tip suggesting simmering the hocks in the oven, not on the hob, she placed the two hefty hocks into a large pan with boiling water into the oven for three hours.

As she removed the pan, full of boiling oily water, laden with fat from the oven, her wrist gave way tipping the whole lot over her lower body and throwing her backwards.

“It was a horrible accident. My instinct was to strip the clothing from my lower body,” said Grada.

“I screamed so loud my husband ran out to see what had happened in time to see me running up the stairs shouting ‘call for an ambulance’, I ran a bath of cold water and sat emerged up to my waist.

“It was excruciatingly painful but I remember it was like watching peach skins in boiling water, peeling off and round my knees where the pan and fat had landed, the skin was bubbling like pork scratching.”

Upon arriving at Frimley Park Hospital, Grada was told she had burns covering 25 per cent of her body. She was later sent to the Burns Unit at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, where a team was waiting to look after her.

She added: “They continued to top up the morphine and to scrape away the rest of the burnt skin, then covered me in a new protein wrap I stayed in the isolation unit for five days, the nurses changing the dressing every four hours, using sheets of Manuka honey.

“The teams working in the burns unit were so dedicated, gentle and kind, encouraging me to move my body to ensure that any new skin would be flexible.

“We should be proud of the NHS, where else in the world would you have such amazing treatment? It must have cost a huge amount of money to treat my burns.”

After four months Grada was able to walk normally. She was overwhelmed by the help she received at the Burns Unit. To show her appreciation she is raising money for a Vivosight OCT, a new light-based technology to help clinicians make more informed decisions about non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSC).

One of the many ways that Grada is helping to raise these funds is through poetry prose events, which she hosts at her house.

“Friends, and friends of friends, are asked to share some poetry or prose and give a reason why it is special to them, and in return we give them beverage and confection,” continued Grada.

“The first session raised £205, plus two per cent gift aid, but even more importantly produced two wonderful poems, the first written by a young women and the second written by someone known to many people in Farnham.”

Others helping to reach this target is Christina from The Bourne Club, who will be preparing food for a charity lunch next month, Sarah Phillips and members of the WI.

Support Grada by visiting her fundraising page at just

giving.com/grada-helsdon, which has to date raised more than £960, through a number of different events including lunches and sponsored walks.