A man who was rushed to hospital after scalding himself with a kettle as a child believes the "traumatic" experience has had a long-lasting impact on his mental health.
Pete Cranfield, 37, was just four years old when he was burned so severly he needed a skin graft to repair the skin on his shoulder. The barber, originally from Speke, spent months in the care of Alder Hey Children's Hospital after getting his foot caught in the wire of a kettle in 1988.
Pete said: “It was January and we’d moved so the house was in a bit of turmoil while we were unpacking. I was four and I climbed up on the kitchen cupboard and got my foot caught in the wire of the kettle and poured it over myself.
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"At the time, the ambulances were on strike so my mum and dad were obviously beside themselves and had to rush me to Alder Hey. When I got there, I was put onto the burns unit and I was there for quite a while because I had a skin graft on my shoulder.
"It was a very traumatic experience for me and my parents. For me, it’s strange because about two years ago I had some therapy for anxiety and the therapist got what happened out of me and told me that a lot of my anxiety over the past 15 years was probably subconsciously linked to me scalding myself as a child."
Pete, who now lives in Hoylake, has previously opened up to the ECHO about the mental health struggles that stopped him from wanting to leave his house. Pete's eating and drinking habits resulted in him weighing 24 stone, and it was only the birth of his son River, in 2020, that made him want to turn things around.
He said: “It had gotten to the point where I was really overweight and feeling tired all the time and my mental health wasn’t in the best place. I became agoraphobic when I was at my lowest.
“I was just in this really horrible place where I was anxious all the time and I had to have some therapy sessions, which really helped me. I thought, when the baby arrives, I want to do something to get healthy and make sure that I’m here to see him grow up in the long run. It was a bit of a reality check really."
Since speaking to his parents about how the the incident in his childhood has affected him, Pete said his anxiety has been "virtually non-existent". In a bid to show his gratitude to the "incredible" staff at Alder Hey, and to help other children who have to go through what he did, Pete is raising money for the burns unit by shaving his "much-loved" hair off.
He said: “I always wanted my hair long when I was a kid because my dad rode motorbikes and so I always thought it looked cool to have long hair. Four years ago I decided I was going to grow it and I’ve had it long since then.
“My dad used to be a mechanic for the RAC and, when I came out of hospital, he did a ride around the country on his motorbike which raised a few thousand pounds for the burns unit. That’s something I’m determined to do myself and I’ve often thought about what I could do to raise money.
"I’ve thought about doing the obvious things like a skydive and an abseil but I was talking to someone about my hair a few weeks ago and they asked me what it would take for me to cut it short again. The only thing that would persuade me to do it would be to raise a large amount for charity so I decided I would do it for the burns unit."
Pete shaved his head earlier this week, and even roped in his son to do the honours. He has already raised nearly £5,000 and couldn't be more grateful to everyone who's donated.
He said: “I can’t believe the generosity of people, especially at a time when people are struggling financially. I wasn’t expecting to hit the target for a long time so to anyone who’s donated, thank you so much because it means a lot to me and the money is going to somewhere that has a massive place in my heart.
"I’ll be so proud to give them this money."
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