More than 40 years after becoming part of a Pulitzer prize winning pic that captured her naked and burning during the Vietnam War, Kim Phuc, who is also known as "Napalm Girl," has a new chance to heal herself as she is undergoing a laser treatment in Miami that will ease her decade-long pain.
"So many years I thought that I have no more scars, no more pain when I'm in heaven," gushed Phuc, who became almost a living symbol of Vietnam war when she was clicked wailing and running naked towards the camera with her arms flung away as she has ripped away her burning clothes, The Guardian reported.
Phuc was hit by Napalm that is known to stick like a jelly, so there is no way for victims to outrun the heat. The incident happened when a South Vietnamese plane accidentally dropped its flaming napalm on her village, Trang Bang, outside Saigon, in 1972.
Nick Ut, the celebrated Associated Press' photojournalist who clicked the iconic pic, recalled the incident by saying that when he found Phuc, her back was burnt badly and was peeling off. She suffered serious burns over a third of her body. Although she survived, she was left with painful scars almost four times as thick as normal skin that has affected her badly to date.
Dr. Jill Waibel of the Miami Dermatology and Laser Institute has described Phuc's pain as the worst of its nature, "10 out of 10." The treatment will continue for eight to nine months.
Phuc now lives in Canada with her husband and two children. She also run the Kim Foundation, helping child victims of war, Mancunian Matters reported.