Abbie Quinnen Speaks Out For The First Time About Horrific Fire Incident

Abbie Quinnen has spoken out for the first time since a horrific incident at home left her with third degree burns all over her face, neck and chest.

For the first time since the accident, the dancer, who is dating AJ Pritchard, has spoken out about what happened.

Speaking with The Sun she shared; “AJ and I just wanted to do the lifehack video for fans to watch at home. It was a popular video online so we were doing a test-run in the kitchen that I was going to film.”

The dancer, who lives with AJ and his brother, Curtis, was filming the video for social media at home. The pair had been recording ‘life hacks’ for their social media channels to keep themselves busy during lockdown.

 

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One of these ‘challenges’ was to make a wine bottle into a vase, this involved wrapping it with a chemical soaked piece of rope and setting it alight. This should have halved the wine bottle, but instead the flames got out of control.

Explaining what happened next she said; “My hair caught fire and within seconds the flames had spread to my top and my body was alight.”

“It was such a shock, I was panicking and screaming. I dropped down to the floor and I was rolling to try to put out the fire.”

Thankfully, AJ was able to put out the flames with a wet tea towel and Curtis rushed them to the hospital.

 

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Reflecting on what happened Abbie shared; “I saw my life flash before my eyes. I never thought something like that would happen to me.”

“The first thing I said to AJ was, ‘Is my face going to be OK? Are you still going to love me?”

“AJ was comforting me — I couldn’t speak as I was in so much shock. I was shaking, and I just kept asking if he would still love me. I was wearing a dressing gown and leggings.”

Continuing she said; “My face was burning hot, it felt very painful. I was lucky it missed my eye. I had massive blisters filled with water on my chest, neck and face and they had to pop them and clean the areas.”

“It was extremely painful. The doctor made me feel at ease.”

 

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Due to Covid restrictions, AJ was unable to visit Abbie whilst she was being cared for in hospital. The dancer was in intensive care and had to undergo multiple skin grafts on her neck and chest area.

Talking about her injuries she said; “My face swelled up. I couldn’t see out of my right eye.

“Luckily, there were no mirrors in the bathrooms but I kept glimpsing my reflection in my phone screen, it was horrific. I could tell I looked like a completely different person. From the moment it happened, I was worried I would never look the same again.”

“I looked so horrible and awful I was terrified about seeing anyone. AJ did try to come to the hospital to give me a bag of clothes but I was adamant I didn’t want him to see me like this. I was embarrassed about the way I looked.”

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A post shared by Abbie Quinnen (@abbiequinnen)

Since then, she shared that AJ has been fantastic about helping her get better and look after her injuries, but she did say that she was anxious just before she was discharged; “I was so nervous seeing him, when we were reunited we were both welling up. But once we saw each other, I felt better.”

“I remember trying to get home and being on a mission to hide, I was so traumatised by the way that I looked. AJ was just relieved that I was talking.”

The 23-year-old added; “He reassures me constantly and tells me we are together forever — he welcomed me home with balloons. I can’t thank him enough. He’s been incredible. He helps me moisturise every day, he washes my silicone pads, used to reduce scarring. I’m so grateful.”

• Abbie Quinnen
• aj pritchard