This is Jua'Queyunis "Jae Jae" Johnson from Seffner, Florida. She was burned in 2003 on Valentine's Day when she was 18 months old. Jae Jae was at her grandparents house; her grandfather was cooking on a electric skillet while she was playing. Jae Jae was shooed out of the kitchen multiple times, but while no one was looking she reentered the kitchen. The balloon she was playing with floated over the stove and Jae Jae climbed on top of a stool to get it. When she did, she grabbed the skillet handle - pouring oil on herself. 

Jae Jae was hospitalized for 6 weeks and deemed 30% burned. As treatment, she received skin grafts, using her own skin. Since skin grafts tend to become thick and raised, she had to wear pressure garments to help with the healing process. Her mother explained that since she was so young and didn't understand that she needed to wear a mask pressure garment on her face, she would constantly pull it off. Jae Jae explained that her scalp was badly burned and her hair no longer grew on a large portion of her head. When she was seven year old she had cosmetic reconstructive surgery to regrow hair; she had tissue expanders inserted into her scalp to reconstruct her hairline. The expanders are slowly inflated over a period of weeks so the surgeon can harvest a large patch of skin where healthy hair follicles grow. They then replace the heavily scarred skin with the newly harvested patch. As she got older, she also had eye reconstruction to help it properly close and scar reduction on her face. Jae Jae explained that she has no further need for surgeries at this time and she is happy in her own skin. She stated that she has never been held back by her scars and has always been a confident young woman. She explained that she has never been bullied by her peers or treated any different by anyone in her family. She never viewed herself as having limitations. Jae Jae explained that it is important to come to terms with who you are and not compare yourself to others. Once we fully accept ourselves we can move past our flaws and embrace our beauty. 

*A note from the author: Jae Jae and her mom traveled to Baltimore from Florida to participate in the Untitled Project after seeing one of the stories posted on a Facebook burn survivor group's page. She is also friends with Christiany Carleson, who participated in the project last year. It was great to spend the day with Jae Jae and her mom, they are awesome women and I am blessed to have met them.