'I've been faceless and it makes you feel like a nothing': Woman who suffered horrific burns after being set alight by jealous wife of a man she met briefly at a party prepares to remove her mask for the first time
While
she is preparing to take off her mask for the first time, Dana Vulin
has revealed she is fighting another battle, but this time, it's cancer.
The
28-year-old was doused with methylated spirits and set on fire by a
woman jealous of her beauty two and a half years ago in a horrific
premeditated attack to 'ruin her pretty face'.
On
Sunday, after 30 months of agonising reconstructive surgery and more
than 30 procedures, the Perth woman will take off the mask that she's
been forced to wear to cover her burnt face.
Ms
Vulin suffered third-degree burns to two thirds of her body, including
her face, and has endured constant pain since the horrific attack.
She
survived against incredible odds but recently, Ms Vulin revealed she
suffered another agonising pain when she was told she has cervical
cancer.
Dana Vulin suffered horrific burns to her face and body when she was attacked by Natalie Dimitrovska
'As
soon as I looked into his eyes I said to him, 'it's bad isn't it?' And
he said, 'Yeah I'm sorry, you have cancer',' Ms Vulin told Channel Seven's Sunday Night show.
'I
just couldn't believe that, dealing with so much at once, there were
times where I thought how much can one person deal with?'
Appearing on Channel Seven’s Sunday Night this weekend Ms Vulin explained how her life has changed since the attack.
'In
my wildest dreams in the beginning I didn't for one second think I
could look in the mirror and see the old Dana again,' Ms Vulin said.
'I'm
going to make this burn my bitch, I'm going to kick it in the face and I
am going to rock scars, look hot with my scarred-up body and just make
this work.
'It
would've been easier to die but I've never taken the easy road to
anything so. It is the hardest, rockiest, biggest mountain you can
possibly think of.'
The 28-year-old will take off the mask that she has been forced to wear for two and a half years
Ms Vulin was on her sofa at home in Perth, Western Australia on February 16, 2001, when a woman's voice said: 'Hello, Dana.'
Natalie
Dimitrovska, the jealous estranged wife of a man named Edin who Ms
Vulin had met at a New Year’s Eve party, stood before her.
Dimitrovska
hurled a bottle of methylated spirits over Ms Vulin, a convicted drug
user, while she was reportedly holding a lamp used for smoking crystal
meth.
'I was pretty much instantly on fire,' a weeping Ms Vulin told Western Australia's District Court. 'I was a human fireball.'
'The moment I was on fire, [Dimitrovska and a male accomplice] just laughed and ran out of my apartment,' she added.
Ms Vulin, seen here before the attack, was set alight by a jealous estranged wife of a man she had met once
The university graduate always took pride in her appearance before the crime
Since
coming out of a coma, Dana has suffered agonising pain from her burns
and has been forced to wear the pressure suit and mask between countless
operations.
'I've been faceless and it makes you feel like a nothing and a no one,' she said.
'I
know who I am, but I'm beige. I don't have any expressions on my face,
you can’t see my mouth, you can’t see my nose, you can literally only
see my eyeballs, not my eyebrows. It makes me feel like a faceless
nothing, that’s the best way to describe it.'
Of
the mask that has covered her face for so long, she added: 'I respect
the s**t out of this mask, and I appreciate it, but I also hate its
guts. Without it I couldn't be where I am right now, but if I had a
choice I'd rather endure physical pain than wear this mask.'
Channel Seven reporter Rahni (left) is
seen standing with Ms Vulin (right) behind a table full of her
rehabilitation equipment and clothing
She has suffered agonising pain from
her burns and has been forced to wear the pressure suit and mask between
countless operations
'My skin and my burns and my scars are obviously a part of me now, but this is not me,' Ms Vulin says
Ms Vulin always took pride in her appearance before the attack and enjoyed having her hair and nails done regularly.
‘Not
one minute of my day is the same. Your exterior is a representation of
your interior, and this is not me…my skin and my burns and my scars are
obviously a part of me now, but this is not me. I’ve not been able to
wear earrings, I had no hair so I haven’t been able to do anything with
my hair, I’ve been fashion repeating for over two years.
'(When
I look in the mirror) I see someone I know and someone I don’t know,
does that make sense? It’s crazy what I’ve accepted as normal. It’s
crazy that I've accepted wearing that mask all day and night normal, and
having my face out as not normal and natural.'
The
university graduate added: ‘It’s your identity, so I think in order for
somebody to heal inside you have to heal on the outside. I have the
right to have my face that I was born with back. Everyone has the right
to have their face.'
A sketch taken in Perth's District
Court on July 22, 2013, of 28-year-old Natalie Dimitrovska, who was
charged with grievous bodily harm after she allegedly set fire to
acquaintance Dana Vulin in February 2012
Dana Vulin leaves court after watching
the woman who set her alight and left her to burn to death jailed by a
Perth judge for 17 years
On October 11 2013, Dimitrovska wept as she was jailed for 17 years for grievous bodily harm with intent.
In
sentencing, Judge Bruce Goetze described the attack as being in the
worst category of grievous bodily harm with intent. He said the attack
was also premeditated as in the weeks leading up to the incident
Dimitrovska had threatened to 'ruin (Ms Vulin’s) pretty face'.
Dimitrovska ran away after setting Ms Vulin on fire.
'It is really difficult to imagine how one human being could leave while another human being is on fire,’ Judge Goetze said.
‘It
is totally unimaginable how you could not put out the flames, or try to
do so, or at least call for help. Instead, you laughed and ran away.’
Speaking
on Sunday Night, Ms Vulin said: 'I am a strong person, and more than
anything that I've learnt in my burn is that I will never change and I
know the person I am, and '’m confident in the woman that I am.'
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