The U.K. version of the hit dating competition show Love Island is coming back with Season 12. One of its contestants, Sophie Lee, has revealed her harrowing battle with an “incurable tumor” after she was critically injured from a fire-breathing accident, per the Daily Mail.
Videos by Suggest
Sophie Lee From Love Island Suffered Life-Threatening Burns
This 29-year-old from Manchester is one of many contestants on this ITV show, but she has a unique story. At 22 years old, Lee suffered severe burns as a fire-breathing performer.
This horrific accident occurred in the United States during a charity event. While performing in a Chicago venue, its air conditioning was too strong. So when Lee blew out the fire, the AC pushed it right back on her face. This left serious burns on her face and chest.
“I was blowing the fire and it blew back into my face,” said Lee to OK!. “[It] set me on fire from the chest all the way up to just below my eyes.”
The motivational speaker and performer was just glad that the damage wasn’t worse. “I’m very lucky to be alive,” said the Love Island contestant.
After the accident, she grew what doctors called a keloid tumor on the burn. Unfortunately, due to the rarity of this type of tumor, she “became an international case study.”
There was no cure for keloid tumors, so her condition intrigued doctors. “Surgeons from around the world scrambling trying to find out the best way to cure keloid tumours,” Lee explained.
Sophie Lee Described Being Treated As A “Guinea Pig” With “Incurable Tumor”
To get rid of the tumor, she underwent intralesional cryosurgery two times. This involved doctors injecting liquid nitrogen into the tumor to freeze it off.
“Then I went through stages of steroid injections to bring down any more sides of the scar because they didn’t want to perform the surgery again,” Lee said. She described the difficult experience as being treated like “a guinea pig.” The performer also felt like she had signed her life over.
“There was no guarantee of success, of surgery or survival because of where it was,” Lee continued. “You know, there’s always at risk of surgery.”
Once the steroid injections stopped working, Lee tried chemotherapy injections. This was even tougher to handle for Lee, as she said, “that took it out of me.”
Going through such a horrific medical journey that changed her appearance made her not feel “sexy” or “cute” enough to have a partner. “Which is why I didn’t want to date, whereas now I’ve worked on myself,” she said.
Now that she has undergone many transformations and medical treatments, Lee’s life has changed forever. She became a model and also wrote a book based on her journey.
Lee is now hoping to find the love of her life on ITV’s Love Island after feeling confident enough in herself to step into the dating pool.