HUMAN INTEREST • LOCAL MIRACLE
A heartfelt story of recovery, community support, and aggressively upbeat before-and-after graphics.
Several Thanksgivings ago, a perfectly normal Highland Park attempt at deep-frying a turkey went very wrong very quickly. The details are less important than what came after: years of healing, quiet resilience, and now, a sponsored “glow-up” that the local paper has decided to call a miracle.
Our subject, who requested partial anonymity (first name only, full face in every photo), sustained non-life-threatening but significant burns while helping a relative with a fryer. Recovery was long, boring, and very real.
Friends remember her disappearing from group photos, turning down pool invites, and becoming gently obsessed with SPF 70.
After years of quietly managing appointments and insurance codes, she received a heavily discounted reconstructive procedure from a local surgeon who also offers “lunchtime lifts” and couples’ Botox packages.
In exchange, she agreed to share her story in a glossy advertorial, framed as proof that sometimes tragedy is just “God redirecting you to a different jawline.”
(As required by the three med-spas sponsoring this story, only flattering lighting permitted.)
Underneath the hashtags and ring lights is a person who went through something frightening and slow to heal. That part doesn’t fit neatly into a carousel.
The article includes twelve “after” photos and exactly zero images of the in-between. Because in this ZIP code, healing doesn’t count until it’s camera-ready.
Maybe the real blessing is that she survived, found support, and can now decide what to do with her own face, regardless of how many med-spas try to tie a ribbon on it.