Katie Piper(I)

Katie Piper is now a best selling international author, inspirational speaker, TV presenter and charity campaigner. She is also a young woman who has rebuilt her life after surviving a brutal attack in March 2008 at the age of 24, in which she was raped and had sulphuric acid thrown in her face. She spent 2 months in the Burns Unit at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital where she was placed in an induced coma in intensive care. Katie's surgeon Mr Mohammad Ali Jawad and his team performed pioneering surgery on Katie. They chose to remove the dead layers of skin from Katie's face and rebuild the foundations of it using a dermal substitute called Matriderm along with skin grafts from her back and buttocks. It was the first of its kind in the world to be done as a single stage operation.

Katie then went to an intensive burn rehabilitation unit in France to undertake a long period of scar management techniques.

She had to wear a plastic pressure mask for 23 hours a day for two years as part of her treatment. Her injuries also meant that she needed to be fed through a tube in her stomach as reforming scar tissue in her throat restricted her ability to eat and drink. The acid also left her blinded in one eye.

Just over a year after the attack, Katie made the decision to give up her anonymity and share her story in a remarkable film for the Cutting Edge strand on Channel 4 called 'Katie: My Beautiful Face'. which was watched by over 3.5million viewers and nominated for Best Single Documentary at the BAFTA Television Awards in 2010. In 2009 she went on to set up her own charity The Katie Piper Foundation. Simon Cowell supported Katie in her mission by becoming the patron and remains actively involved to date. The charity's vision is a world where scars do not limit a person's function, social inclusion or sense of well being.

Since then, Katie's life and career has gone from strength to strength. She has gone on to make a number of TV shows both here in the UK and internationally, she has written 3 number one best-selling books and her original autobiography has been translated into several different languages and sold in a number of countries. Katie has been described as an inspirational role model, and her bravery and determination have been recognised by being nominated and receiving a number of awards.

She was voted Woman of the Year 2011 and most recently received a special recognition award at The Pride of Britain Awards in London.

Katie currently has a weekly column in NOW Magazine writing as a life guru.