Hidden Scars

June 7, 2016

Nineteen-year-old Elise Lutz proudly wears her graduation cap and gown. Like many students, she’s worked hard to succeed. She’s in the National Honor Society, Chinese Honor Society, and she’s earned more than $30,000 in scholarships to help cover the costs of attending UNC-Greensboro (UNCG) in the fall.

But unlike most seniors, Elise’s gown covers up scars that show how much she’s already overcome.

“I don’t think most people know my story,” she says. “[To them] I’m just a student worried about my grades.”

Long Journey

But Elise isn’t just like other high school seniors. Her journey to graduation has been longer - and harder - than most.

She was born in rural China and severely burned on the right side of her body shortly after her first birthday. She doesn’t remember anything about how she was burned, but doctors believe boiling hot liquid was poured or spilled down her body.

As if that didn’t present a big enough life challenge, she was then abandoned in the bathroom of the hospital where she was being treated. Her parents never returned, so months later she was sent to an orphanage for children with special needs.

As a child, Elise was given the very adult responsibility of taking care of other, even younger special needs children in the orphanage. After business hours, the staff would go home for the night, leaving Elise in charge of all the other kids, including several babies.

By this time, the skin on the right side of her body was so scarred from her burns, she didn’t have full use of her right arm and couldn’t straighten it. But day in and day out, she made bottles and fed the babies, gave them medicine, changed their diapers, and even let them sleep with her in her bed.

Sometimes she got to go to school. Sometimes she didn’t. And that was Elise’s life, until she turned nine years old.

A New Life

On the other side of the world, Kim Williams and Bob Lutz felt their family was incomplete. They’d already adopted Jessie and Halle, but something was missing. That’s when they first learned about Elise. Before adopting her, they met with doctors and specialists at UNC Hospital’s Jaycee Burn Center to see if they could help her. The doctors thought they could. So, the Lutzes adopted Elise and brought her to her new home in North Carolina, with two new sisters and a family dog.

The Struggle

It wasn’t an easy transition. For Elise, life in America at times was more difficult than being in the orphanage in China. Elise spoke very limited English. Her mother home-schooled her for the first six months after coming to the United States, to help her learn the language and American culture.

Elise also spent a lot of time with doctors and specialists, looking at her burn scars and devising plans to improve her appearance and functionality. She’s had nearly 10 surgeries in as many years – to improve her arm movement, give her a prosthetic ear, and allow hair to grow on a part of her head that was severely burned.

“I had anger and frustration, I was crying at home, especially in middle school,” Elise remembers. “People complain about little bug bites or they don’t like they way they look. I really struggled with internal beauty.”

“I feel comfortable covering up my scars because when I don’t, people stare,” she explains. “I feel like they’re staring at my ugly scars. There are days I feel negative about myself and my parents remind me, ‘Your scars aren’t everything. You’re so much more than that.’”

Elise also struggled to catch up and keep up in school. She worked with her teachers and her parents hired private tutors to help her.

While she’s appreciative of those teachers and tutors, Elise says she credits her success to her parents being “always there and making sure I remember who I am.”

 Loving Herself

To come to terms with her past, her scars, and her appearance, Elise attended Camp Celebrate for children who have survived burn injuries.

It’s the one place she’s comfortable letting her scars show.

“I don’t think I’m perfect,” she says. “I wish I could change a few things, but I’m happy with my burn scars now.”

“I’m gonna be okay. The scars might be there forever, but they don’t define you.”

Giving Back

Elise wants to make sure other burn survivors and children have the same support she had. Now, she volunteers as a counselor at Camp Celebrate, to build self-esteem in other children.

She also works with special needs students, many who have similar challenges as the children she cared for in the orphanage.

At UNCG, Elise plans to major in Community and Therapeutic Recreation with a minor in deaf studies. She wants to become an occupational therapist for special needs students.

Words to Live By

Elise’s advice to everyone?

“Just move on through your hard issues,” she says. “It’s not going to be like that forever.”

She also urges people to be extra patient and kind with one another.

“All people probably have issues we can’t see.”