White Island volcano survivor Stephanie Browitt draws strength from lost family

Three years after losing her father and sister in the White Island volcano tragedy, Stephanie Browitt draws strength from their memory.

White Island survivor Stephanie Browitt says the “pain and nightmares have never left”. Picture: Mark Stewart

Three years after her family was torn apart, White Island volcano survivor Stephanie Browitt draws strength from her mother’s words.

“As mum says, ‘For as long as we breathe, we will breathe for them too’,” she said.

Stephanie’s father Paul and younger sister Krystal were among the 22 people who died after New Zealand’s White Island volcano erupted on December 9 2019.

But Stephanie said she and her mother Maria Browitt were determined for their names to live on, and “hope they know we are doing our all to make them proud”.

“Both dad and Krystal were brutally competitive and fierce fighters,” she said.

“We are left with wonderful and happy memories of what we once had.”

She remembered Krystal, who was just 21-years-old, as “ambitious and independent” and said her dad was “hilarious with strong family values”.

“My dad and sister would want mum and I to fight on and never give up,” she said.

Stephanie Browitt is advocating for burns survivors and sharing her recovery journey. Picture: Mark Stewart

She said she feels close to them when she visits their final resting place but the “pain and nightmares have never left us”.

“Mum is haunted by our loss and struggles every single day,” she said.

“You don’t get to heal from such a tragedy but you look for happy moments to steal and have a new appreciation for life.

“We are aware that we will never be complete without our family now but we will always remember and love them with all our heart.”

Stephanie, who was on a tour of the island with her father and sister and suffered severe burns to 70 per cent of her body, said she never thought she would survive “let alone be here to tell my story”.

But that is exactly what she has done, advocating for burns survivors and sharing her journey of recovery with the world.

“If telling my story of survival and fight to live, inspires others to do the same with their own struggles, it was worth sharing,” she said.

Stephanie and her father Paul on-board the Ovation of the Seas cruise ship before the tragedy at White Island. Picture Supplied

Paul and Krystal Browitt's final resting place. Source: Supplied

She and her mother approached Friday’s anniversary with grief but also gratitude, thanking first responders, hospital staff, donors and “the heroic pilots that risked their lives to save me and others”.

“I would like to give thanks to my donors as without them I wouldn’t be here today,” she said.

“So many wonderful and compassionate people have encouraged and motivated me every day through surgeries and recovery and I hope they all know they forever have my love and gratitude.

“They helped lift me up on days I fell down.”

She said Friday was a reminder of “all those that tragically and unnecessarily lost their lives, the families and all those like myself and mum, still struggling everyday with our physical and psychological scars and loss of treasured family”.

“We know their pain well and our heartfelt love and compassion goes out to them all,” she said.

“Those of us with burns, skin grafts are amputations are in need of ongoing treatment for the rest of our lives. Those having lost their family will mourn them for the rest of theirs.”

Originally published as White Island volcano survivor Stephanie Browitt draws strength from lost family