Cynthia Banham knows a lot about life's unfairness. She also knows that bad things can happen to good people.
The former Fairfax journalist, speaking publicly for the first time about the March 2007 Indonesia plane crash that killed 21 people and injured her terribly, says her core beliefs were shaken by the horror of that day.
"I was very angry. How can you not let something like that anger you? I lost a lot of things in that crash," she says.
"But I'm also an optimist. I survived, and the reason I survived was because of my love of life."
Banham lost both legs as a result of the crash and sustained full thickness burns to 60 per cent of her body.
She credits renowned WA burns specialist Fiona Wood with saving her life.
Banham's survival and recovery was made even more remarkable by the birth of her son Leo in February, almost five years after the crash of Garuda flight 200.
Cynthia Banham with husband Michael Harvey and son Leo Harvey, at home in Canberra. Picture: Penny Bradfield
Doctors had told Banham and her husband Michael Harvey that having a baby posed a grave risk because of her injuries.
"The moment Leo arrived, that was the moment when suddenly nothing that had happened before mattered," she says.
After escaping from the burning fuselage of a Boeing 737 that had torn into a Yogyakarta rice paddy after landing, Banham was on fire.
She extinguished the flames by rolling in the paddy field, exposing herself to a deadly waterborne bug.
"That's what kills a lot of burns victims, it's not necessarily the burns themselves, it's the bugs and secondary infections," Banham says. "Once your skin goes, your defence goes."
Professor Wood says her expertise was more than matched by Banham's resilience.
"To survive that level of injury is beyond comprehension unless you have witnessed it," Professor Wood says.
Grateful as she is to Professor Wood and her team for saving her life, Banham is conscious of the limitations of the skin they gave her: it does not breathe, sweat, stretch or feel.
Cynthia Banham with Profesoor Fiona Wood, right, and Professor Suzanne Rea. Supplied picture
Tackling the limitations inspired her to partner with the Ian Potter Foundation to sponsor a permanent burns research position under Professor Wood's guidance at Royal Perth Hospital.
Professor Wood says the ultimate goal is to develop skin grafts that regenerate and scar less.
Ian Potter Foundation chief executive Janet Hirst says Banham's survival and recovery is inspirational and a poignant reminder of the need to improve patient outcomes.
"Burn injury is one of the top three causes of accidental death in children under five years of age and is one of the three most common injuries suffered by an Australian each year, so this is an area that has relevance for us all," Mrs Hirst says.
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