Suffering horrific third-degree burns to the majority of her body after surviving the Whakaari (White Island), New Zealand, volcano eruption in 2019, Stephanie Browitt found it hard to believe she
would ever lead a “normal” life again.
“Mum was always telling me to believe in myself,” Steph, 29, tells Woman’s Day. “And to keep fighting for Krystal and Dad.”
The challenges seemed insurmountable, but with her biggest supporter, her mum, Marie, by her side, Steph began her gruelling rehabilitation journey. “Mum would always remind me that giving up was not an option,” Steph says from her home in Melbourne’s north. “And I never wanted to let her down.”
At the time of the tragedy, on December 9, 2019, the Browitts were on a cruise from Australia to New Zealand.
-copy-3.png?resize=380%2C285)
RUNNING FOR THEIR LIVES
While docked in Tauranga, on the North Island, Steph, Krystal and Paul took a tour to Whakaari – a steamy, volcanic landmass 50km from the east coast. Marie, who has MS, remained on the ship.
“I didn’t realise how far away the island was from the shore,” says Steph, who at the time was a 23-year-old arts degree graduate who aspired to be an actress. “It was lifeless and eerie.”
Though at the time there was a Level 2 volcanic alert for Whakaari – Level 3 is the first level of eruption – Steph says she and her family weren’t informed of this alert of any possible danger.
As they explored, the group noticed black smoke rising from the crater. It was a volcanic eruption called a pyroclastic flow – a scalding surge of hot rock fragments, hot gases and air that moves in a ground-hugging cloud.
“I heard the word ‘run’, and then my dad started repeating it,” she said. “And we just ran.”
It was a run for their lives. The flow hit them “like a tidal wave of rocks” and knocked Steph off her feet. “It was like the full-on force of a truck,” Steph says.
Hero commercial helicopter pilots on the mainland flew to the island to help. Steph, Paul and Krystal were flown to nearby Whakatane Hospital.
Afterwards, Paul and Steph were flown to Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital, and it was there that Steph was told she had lost her younger sister Krystal.
“That broke me,” she says. “Because I was thinking, ‘Yes we’re injured, but we’re all OK, we’re all here.”
DARKEST DAYS
Four weeks later, Paul, a senior investigator at Victoria’s State Revenue Office, lost his fight for life. I went into shock,” Steph recalls. “It made an already horrific time much more horrific to go through. With my injuries, I couldn’t even hug my mum.”
From then, Marie’s focus turned to helping her daughter. “Every single day she came,” Steph says. “She was there for all of my surgeries and therapies.”
Steph had eight fingers amputated, underwent multiple surgeries and skin grafts and learned to walk again in her new body. In her memoir, Out Of The Ashes, co-written with Marie and journalist Sue Smethurst, Steph reveals how her mum’s devotion steered her though her darkest days.
After three months, Steph returned to the family home to find her mum had been sleeping on the sofa, too heartbroken to use the marital bed. On that first night back, Marie slept in Steph’s bed with her. “We hugged and sobbed, until we virtually cried ourselves to sleep,” Steph says.
Marie took on the role of Steph’s full-time carer, including dressing her in her compression garments and silicone masks – to limit scarring – administering moisturising dressings, and helping with her physical therapy.
While overjoyed that her daughter was home, Marie was filled with trepidation.
“I was also utterly terrified about how I’d cope with looking after her,” Marie says.
CLOSER THAN EVER
She did a stellar job. Today, Steph is thriving. She no longer needs to wear a face mask, can drive her own car, and works as a motivational speaker. The mum and daughter, who reached an out of-court of settlement with the cruise company, “are closer than ever”, Steph says.
The first phase of the coronial inquiry into the tragedy took place last year in Auckland and the second is set to begin at some point this year.
Marie hopes that one day Steph can start a family of her own. Not that she’s in any hurry. “I need to get out there,” she says, laughing. “One step at a time.”
Meanwhile, she hopes the book can help others facing their own challenges. “We also wrote the book because we wanted to honour my dad and my sister, and keep their memory alive,” said Steph. “I hope we’ve made them proud.”
Out of the Ashes by Stephanie and Marie Browitt (HarperCollins, $36.99) is out now.
