Probably you will wonder WHY I chose to run this specific guest expert post- particularly after you read it. It’s quite different from the usual topics I feature. There are many reasons why– but bottom-line, this is not a Pollyanna story but one about a woman who had suffered a great tragedy and overcame the obstacles that faced her.
Given that California for the last 18 months has suffered through a huge number of disastrous fires, there are clearly some people who have had horrific burns from those fires. Also many in the military have suffered significant burn injuries in combat. How do we help them? What do we do? Can those individuals regain their footing and their lives?
The point to be made is that your life is not over – even when you face the most horrific events. It’s important to know that there is something powerful that can be learned – and achieved- through the process of healing
LA-Story.com is pleased to introduce you to Celia LaVon Belt.
Celia LaVon Belt is a remarkable woman with an extraordinary story of beating the odds. A burn and abuse survivor, she underwent thirty-one surgeries before the age of nine, and would be subjected to dozens more later on. “They brought in a priest to read me last rites,” she recalls.
Remarkably, she’s still here and able to share what she’s learned over a lifetime that almost never was. Belt, a successful entrepreneur and founder of The Moonlight Fund, an award-winning non-profit organization for burn survivors and their families, has never shied away from challenges.
“In the twenty years since its founding, we’ve touched the lives of 10,000 burn survivors and their families.”
Belt recently received the Distinguished Citizen Medal from the Daughters of the American Revolution for the work she’s done with wounded vets. In addition to ministering to the emotional, financial, and physical needs of burn survivors, Belt’s organization is busy addressing systemic issues as well, lobbying state and federal lawmakers to increase benefits for burn survivors.
The Burning Question: Who Will Foot the Bill for America’s Increasing Burn-Care Costs?
By Celia Belt
Each year in the United States, half a million Americans will be treated for burns so severe as to require hospitalization. The “survivors”—including more than three-hundred children each day and a drastic increase in U.S. military members since the turn of the millennium—can be expected to undergo arduous, agonizing surgeries and painful rehabilitation lasting for years.
Speaking at the pentagon with General Martin E. Dempsey seated
The emotional and physical trauma of these fellow citizens is not a pretty picture. Nor is it an inexpensive one. According to estimates, patients with severe burns with no complications can expect a whopping $1.6 million bill for treatment over the cost of their lifetime. For patients who do go on to develop complications as the result of severe burns, hospital bills can run more than $10 million.
Where is that money coming from? Partly from you and me in the cost of increased healthcare premiums. But often times from people like me, directly. As the co-founder of the Moonlight Fund (www.moonlightfund.org), a Texas-based non-profit organization for burn survivors and their families, we’re often tasked with raising funds to help with the costs of expensive procedures in addition to the emotional support and caregiver assistance our organization was founded for. Many times I’ve reached into my own pocket—not because I’m a saint, but because I’ve been there.
With wounded military members Isaac Gallegos & Shilo Harris , and my daughter Hillary Swindell
As a childhood burn survivor myself, scalded over 32% of my body, I’m well aware that infections resulting from burns—which occur in one out of three cases—add between $58,000 and $120,000 to treatment costs. Skin breakdown—which happens one out of two times—adds up to $107,000 more. Disfigurement and scarring? Up to $35,000 on top of that. Then, of course, there are psychological issues associated with severe trauma. 57% of burn victims need help for it, help that costs as much as $75,000 per patient.
Accepting the Distinguished Citizen Medal of Honor from Daughters of the American Revolution:
Madam Regent Judy Callaway Ostler and DAR state chair Kathy Hanlon
It’s no wonder I spend a good deal of my time trying to find scholarship beds for survivors soon leaving the burn unit or negotiating with compression garment companies to give us a break on high-cost wound garments for our patients. The time we spend writing grant proposals, hosting fundraisers and digging into our own pockets to help people could far better be spent helping them emotionally recover and fit back into a society horrified at burned skin.
Burn victims—who are often socially isolated due to their wounds—appreciate you not staring at them on the street. But that doesn’t mean we want to be invisible. Today, more than ever, we can’t afford to be.
Celia Belt and Broer
##
What is the Moonlight Fund?
Moonlight Fund Inc. was founded in 1998 in San Antonio, Texas, by Celia Belt and fellow burn survivor Henry Coffeen III, the staff at the Burn Unit at the San Antonio Military Medical Center (SAMMC), and executives at Ernst & Young.
It provides financial, emotional and in-kind assistance to burn survivors and their families. Moonlight Fund has helped nearly 5000 burn survivors and their family members. It is the only organization of its kind, offering services from onset of an injury, through rehab and on into the patient’s and families’ new lives. The organization helps military and civilian survivors in many ways, including paying medical bills, providing financial aid to finish college degrees, building and furnishing homes, and most importantly, providing a support system when it is most desperately needed.
About Celia Belt:
Celia Belt, a burn survivor, is the founder of the award-winning Moonlight Fund Inc., a non-profit organization that provides financial and emotional assistance to burn survivors and their families.
Celia Belt is the author of Remarkably Intact: Angels Are No Strangers to Chains
(Broer Books, paper, $18.95). (Book is available on Amazon.com and fine bookstores everywhere!)
For more information, visit: www.remarkablyintact.com.
Follow Celia Belt on these social channels:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CeliaBelt.PublicSpeaker/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CeliaBeltAuthor
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/celiabeltsocial/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/celiabelt/
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18510672.Celia_Belt
LA-Story.com would like to thank Celia Belt for her time and sharing her story and her vision. Her book is a powerful story. Her life is an example to us all about having perseverance and faith to move forward and help others!
Stevie Wilson,
LA-Story.com
________________________DEALS and STEALS(Affiliate Links)
I curate deals that offer bonuses, bargains, and great products –and some are very specifically for this site to feature to my audience because I want my audience to get amazing products from great brands! If you purchase via my link, I make a very small percentage for that purchase. It does not add any additional cost to the product. The price you see is the retail price (depending on store or vendor) .
Hot New Products for YOUR Fall into Holiday Look at Sephora and Sephora.com
MARC JACOBS BEAUTY O!Mega Glaze All-Over Foil Luminizer: Buy It HERE: https://fave.co/2O8ehf
What it is:
A limited-edition highlighter with a reflective, foiled look in an oversized, covetable, gold compact.
Part of the Holiday 2018 collection of glittery shadows, and a high-shine lip gloss/lacquer as seen above.
What it does:
Get more of what you love with this larger-than-life luminizer that adds reflective radiance with the touch of a brush. The micro-fine, jet-milled powder applies seamlessly for a get-noticed glow without glitter. The warm, peachy-gold highlighter is perfectly sized for both face and all-over body use. Presented in a super-shiny, mirrored, gold compact, this foil lumninzer makes the perfect gift for someone who always glows for it.
From Nordstrom and Nordstrom.com!
Paris Lace Body-Con Dress from BARDOT BUY IT HERE!
Left partially sheer at the bodice, waist and hem, a contemporary take on a classic lace cocktail dress shows off alluring hints of skin.
This gorgeous dress comes in five colors including this deep forest green. It would be perfect for holiday parties and New Years Eve!
37″ length (size Medium)
Hidden back-zip closure
Mock turtleneck
Sleeveless
Partially lined
100% polyester
Dry clean or hand wash, dry flat
Imported
Special Occasion
Item #5411614
Faux Fur Lined Plaid Biker Jacket,AVEC LES FILLES Buy This HERE:
Get the best of two different trends: a biker jacket done in PLAID. Plaids are the haute trend of the moment so why not wear it in the non-traditional biker jacket!
Contemporary biker style reaches back to classic British racing wear for a retro-contemporary mashup on this plaid jacket featuring a faux-fur lining for style and warmth and faux-leather trim for the finishing touch on the look.
25 1/2″ length (size Medium)
Asymmetrical front-zip closure
Notched collar
Front slant zip pockets
Snap-tab hem
Long sleeves with buckle-detail cuffs
90% polyester, 10% wool with 100% polyurethane trim
100% polyester faux-fur lining
Dry clean
Imported
Coats
Item #5607062
Subscribe to RSS headline updates from:
Powered by FeedBurner
If you are going to feature content from LA-Story.com including images, podcasts or videos including the accompanying text, please respect copyright provisions. We require a notation of content origination (meaning credit tag), a linkback to the specific page & please email the link to stevie@la-story.com before the piece goes live. LA-Story.com, LA-Story Recessionista, Celebrity Stylescope, Celebrity Style Slam Trademark/Copyright 2007-2020.
