Upon Request, I Presented A Young Man Who Was Burned In Childhood With A Projection Of What He Would Look Like And His Response Left Me Speechless

It was November 2003, John Quinn was four years old and playing with the family dog in a shed belonging to his home in Millington, UK. The animal knocked over a candle and the place started to burn. One of the older sisters, Leah Cochran, realizing what had happened, went into the shed, pulled her brother out and stripped him of his burning pajamas. Afterwards, she put John in a bath of cold water and saved John who, despite having survived, was left with 95% of his body burned.

John Quinn was taken to hospital where he was in a coma for six months and underwent 87 operations. Since that day, his life has not been easy: growing up, children made fun of him and called him Freddy Krueger, the famous character from the series "Nightmare on Elm Street".

Today John Quinn is a digital influencer with thousands of followers who love and admire him. Some time ago he received a message from actor Ryan Reynolds after cosplaying Deadpool, the character he brought to life in the cinema.

I met John Quinn after some of my followers tagged me in an Instagram post where the young man would be curious to see his face without the burns that have accompanied him all his life.

I was moved by his story and promptly started working on my art in which I used an image of him as a 4-year-old boy, leaving him with the appearance of a 23-year-old. Upon seeing the finished art, John Quinn was very moved and shared it on his instagram account, leaving everyone in awe with a text in which whoever reads it learns to value the life he has more.

He says:

"This is what I might’ve looked like if I did not get burned.

@hidreley is a digital artist that creates images in realistic depictions of what someone might look like. He does cartoon characters into real life like family guy, young people into old, old into young, etc. he is extremely talented! I’m really impressed and surprised he decided to edit my childhood photo before my burns to see what I might’ve looked like. Henceforth, knowing this does not impact my desire in the slightest of wishing to not of been touched by flames. Being burned was necessary for me in this life. I needed to go through such agony to understand my destiny. I say anyone who survives the fire is a phoenix, for they have not been tamed by the flames but over came. It is not a shame for me to obtain this outlook. I am not off the hook yet, I have a purpose to help inspire others to still be able to live their best life after tragedy. Although this is a nice idea, and depiction of what could’ve been, I am not letting that idea win. I have been burned 19 years, longer than I have been not burned. And in those years I’ve learned how to embrace and accept my body being forged in fire. I love what I look like now. And I encourage others to also go that way. It is so easy to find what we don’t like about ourselves, but it’s also just as easy to find what we like about our selves. It’s all about perspective."

More info: Instagram