What would you do if you were suddenly engulfed in flames, with no way to put yourself out? Our guest, Tonya Meisenbach, bravely shares her harrowing experience of a near-fatal fire accident and how it changed her life forever. Tonya's powerful story is a testament to the strength of the human spirit and a reminder of the importance of safety and awareness in our everyday lives.
As Tonya recounts the moments leading up to the accident and her fight for survival, she also opens up about the emotional and physical aftermath, including her time in a medically induced coma and the painful process of having her dead skin scraped off. Through it all, Tonya's faith, resilience, and love for her family have helped her find new purpose and a platform on TikTok where she spreads hope and inspiration.
Join us for this incredibly moving episode as we explore Tonya's journey, her unbreakable spirit, and her message of hope for others who may be facing similar challenges. Let Tonya's story be a reminder to all of us that even in the darkest moments, there is always a light of hope, love, and resilience.
MORNIN BITCHES PODCAST
What would you do if you were suddenly engulfed in flames, with no way to put yourself out? Our guest, Tonya Meisenbach, bravely shares her harrowing experience of a near-fatal fire accident and how it changed her life forever. Tonya's powerful story is a testament to the strength of the human spirit and a reminder of the importance of safety and awareness in our everyday lives.
As Tonya recounts the moments leading up to the accident and her fight for survival, she also opens up about the emotional and physical aftermath, including her time in a medically induced coma and the painful process of having her dead skin scraped off. Through it all, Tonya's faith, resilience, and love for her family have helped her find new purpose and a platform on TikTok where she spreads hope and inspiration.
Join us for this incredibly moving episode as we explore Tonya's journey, her unbreakable spirit, and her message of hope for others who may be facing similar challenges. Let Tonya's story be a reminder to all of us that even in the darkest moments, there is always a light of hope, love, and resilience.
MORNIN BITCHES PODCAST
Three, two, one Morning bitches and no one told you they love you. today, then I love you. I'm very excited because I saw this incredible woman on TikTok and I said I got to hear her story. Tanya Meisenbach, is that right, tanya?
Speaker 2:Yes, Tanya Meisenbach.
Speaker 1:Okay, tanya Burn Beauty 2018. Wow, what a. So first of all, i'm thank you for coming into my podcast. You know I have inspirational people on you. What I mean by inspirational is people that mean something to me. So you meant something to me. And don't worry about getting the pictures, this is audio only. So, just so you know. All right, girls, so tell me a story and stick to it. So what happened?
Speaker 2:Well, i was. It was 2018, a week before Christmas, and my husband and I were out on our patio just having a nice time, had a bottle of wine, you know, talking, laughing, whatever. My kids had just moved out. My daughter came by and said Mom, i can hear you laughing all the way from the street. And not 30 minutes later I was on fire. We had this fire pit. That was like a big cast iron thing that I had bought my husband as a gift, but you could fire and then you could put a grate on top and cook on it. With all that good wood and coals. You can, you know, make a steak or something. So I'm like, okay, let me get the food And I go to get the steak.
Speaker 2:I come back out and I reach in and I don't realize that I'm in a stream of lighter fluid and my husband doesn't realize I am either. He's squirting lighter fluid. He's making this flame bigger to. You know, i'm going to put the steak on and sear it. You know we've had a little wine. We're not snookered, but we've had wine. I don't drink wine anymore. Good, and I don't. I have a PTSD associated with it now.
Speaker 2:But I didn't realize I was reaching in, i realized that it got on my arm. And it was just those moments where you're like, oh, shit, you know, like right, you're like oh, but it was on my arm. And then, in a split second, the fire shifted, like the wind shifted, and it just like ran up And it was almost like it knocked me out And I ran because I wasn't expecting to be on fire, i was running out, so I wasn't in a car, i was just making a steak, right, and I've done this a million times. I had no expectation of danger, so I ran. And then I think, no, stop, drop and roll. Well, you can't put yourself out if you have accelerant on you, you can't stop. It doesn't work with accelerant. What I was really doing was more so kind of spreading the accelerant even more than I already had is what I was doing, and so I just gave up. After I rolled for a few, it felt like minutes, but I'm sure it was seconds And I thought, well, okay, this is how I died.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:I'm not. I'd always been afraid of dying. I'm not anymore, but at the time I was terrified of dying And I just thought this is how I died And I started to say the Lord's prayer And I got about halfway through and I said wait, wait, wait.
Speaker 1:Were you rolling on the floor, or did you roll on the ground then, or what? I was already rolling You were rolling And then I realized I wasn't going out And so I stopped.
Speaker 2:I was not going out. I rolled and rolled. I didn't know why I wasn't going out, but I wasn't. Now I know it was the excellent. But I knew I wasn't going out And the flame, it was just raging And I laid on my stomach. And that's when I started to say the Lord's Prayer And I knew I was breathing the fire And I couldn't feel pain, but I could feel heat And I knew there was fire in my face and everything. So I, oh gosh. So I just said you know, this is how I died. That's why I gave up and started to say the Lord's Prayer And once I got halfway through, i said God, is this really how I'm supposed to die? I'm 45 years old and I'm laying on my driveway burning the lives. And that's when I heard my who. I hadn't thought about. You know, i say those words that I don't even realize. I'm speaking out loud. And he says I got you, baby, i got you.
Speaker 1:Who said I got you baby? Who said that My husband?
Speaker 2:I said I'm talking to God out loud, apparently Not even realize I'm talking out loud, not thinking about my husband. But when I say, is this really on supposed to die? My husband says I got you, baby, i got you. And at that moment I thought I'm going to live. And he was putting me out with this jacket that I couldn't feel it, like it wasn't that cold that winter. I remember I had on a light fleece, he had on a light leather and he's putting me out with this jacket, right, and I couldn't feel it. But I knew when I was out And as soon as I was out, i jumped up with this rush of adrenaline and I ran into the house And you know the first thing I did? well, i ran to the mirror at that door and I looked at my face, because that's how we are for beauty standards. I ran and I looked at my face because you know, i almost just died in a fire. But my first thought is I don't care if my face is okay.
Speaker 1:Just like us women. Oh, my God, my face.
Speaker 2:My face, my face, Right. Well, you know, I thought it was okay And um, but it wasn't. It was red And I thought, well, I mean, it's hot, but it didn't look like. You don't know what it looks like to be burned if you've never been Right. Well, it takes a couple of days for the skin to blister and to turn black and become necrotic. So I look at my face and I think it's okay. I don't remember even seeing the rest of my body, but, mind you, I had my clothes burned off and everything.
Speaker 1:Oh, my God.
Speaker 2:You know I looked okay and I said to my husband I was like I think I need to go see Dr Bianco in the morning because I was in shock, right And um. So you know I was, i was in shock and he's like no, i dialed 911 and I was like, okay, whatever, right, and 911 gets here and I was still talking and I remember the look on my husband's face and I'd never seen it before And I didn't know what it was. Now I know it was horror because I was standing there, in the way I was standing, and I was talking and then when the ambulance, you know, two fire trucks show up, two ambulances, police men.
Speaker 2:I'm standing on the driveway talking to them. They all have the same look And I still didn't know what it was. I mean, all these men are horrified looking at me Because you know I'm really, i'm burned. I have third and fourth degree burns. My clothes are burned off. Obviously I don't realize it. My husband's not even telling me because, you know, my chest is burned like that. The only thing that saved my hair I wear wigs but I do actually have hair And it's pretty hair and the only thing that saved it was that I happen to have a weave for like the third time in my life, and the cornrows and the tracks from my weave protected my scalp. So it is burned.
Speaker 2:So, at any rate, i get in the ambulance. You know, a paramedic says Tony, we got to go now, because I'm just you know, i'm talking like I am now. He says we got to go. And when we get the back of the ambulance, this paramedic starts working pretty frantically. And it scared me because I had already decided okay, i'm going to make it now. First, this is I'm going to die, now I'm going to make it. Then when he starts, i'm like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, something serious is going on.
Speaker 2:He's cutting my clothes off, i think, to get an IV, because both of my arms are burned. I think he was just trying to find a place to put an IV. I said am I going to die? He said no. I said would you tell me that, even if you thought I was going to die? He said yes, i remember thinking okay. Then he said push. Then that was the last thing I heard, for I consciously heard for two months, because they took me to the hospital. They rushed me to a local hospital so they could get an airway. Then they took me to Grady Hospital in Atlanta.
Speaker 1:Was it an urn unit that they brought you to?
Speaker 2:Yes, First they took me to a regular hospital because they needed to get an airway. So I breathe too much fire.
Speaker 1:You breathe in the smoke and the fire right.
Speaker 2:Right, so they had to get me intubated. And they got me intubated, then they took me to the burn unit because I wouldn't have survived without it. Right, so they took me to the burn unit. I don't remember anything past push-ventinal. The only thing I remember is that I had these terrible dreams and nightmares The whole time. I was living a different life in my mind.
Speaker 1:Oh.
Speaker 2:It is why my faith is such a strong noun, because I realized that my spirit continued even though my body was in a hospital bed. My spirit did not know that it was without my body. Does that? make sense, i did not know. That's interesting. I knew they were in a coma. I didn't. I know your spirit, your soul and your spirit is just a lot more. You're a lot more in your flesh. I know that, and so they woke me up two months later after surgeries every week too.
Speaker 1:They replaced my entire thing. How long were you like in a? Did they put you in a coma? type thing.
Speaker 2:How long? Two months, two months. So I went to sleep in December and my nurse, who was named January, woke me up in February. That's what I always remember. It was the most confusing thing if you just woke up from a coma. I was sleeping. It was like December, january, february. I don't know what it is. I don't know what it is, But when I woke up my husband was kissing my face and he was saying you made it, baby. You made it. And my daughter hugged me and I remember it hurt. My eyes were still stitched together and I didn't know it. I wasn't sure whether I was blind or not. I just don't know what it could mean.
Speaker 2:And I didn't have the feeling to know that. My eyes were closed And she hugged me really tight and said you're the strongest person I know. That meant everything to me. My son was there. It was just for those two months I had been dreaming to fight my family. Where were they? I couldn't find them. I was looking for them, looking for them And in his whole life I was living.
Speaker 2:The only problem I had was that I couldn't find my husband and my kids. I did have one other problem in those dreams, and that was pain. Even through the medically induced coma they do a debris met where they scrape the dead skin off. Right, some children, when you're awake, if you're not in a coma, they're going to be to do it anyway. I was fortunate enough to be in a coma and that's kind of why I was in a coma. I couldn't have survived the pain, right, and I was stressed, right. But um, oh my gosh, i would have a dream every day that someone was coming to hurt my chest And I would walk down this dark staircase in my mind and I would get to the bottom and I'd slide down and come in my head you know, like you do for the when you're a little kid tornado.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, I don't know. I'm from Brooklyn, so we don't know from tornadoes.
Speaker 2:When you're little, they teach you the tornado drill. They take you out in the hallway and you have to squat down and go to your head And that's what I would do until it was over. And then my husband had kept a diary for me. So about a year later, when I read the diary, i realized what that was Probably hearing the nurses come in and knowing they were about to scrape and it hurt so much. You would hear people screaming as they're doing it. Very traumatic.
Speaker 2:But also, you know, i knew my face was damaged when I woke up. I didn't know how. I didn't look at it for until April, even though I woke up in February. It felt like I was wearing a mask. So I knew it was very, very bad. But I also had survived and there was my family and there was joy. That's enough. That's what. that's enough right now. You know I'm good. I don't need to know about this yet. Part was fear and part was just whatever it is, i'm alive. And when I finally looked, it was because I got strong enough to pick up my cell phone and I saw myself in the black screen. And I happened to be in my room alone because my husband stayed with me for six months. He never left.
Speaker 2:He slept there, he ate there, he lived there. What a man. Yeah, i mean he felt so bad, you know, because he felt, you know, so guilty that also he was really paying attention and making sure I got the best care. I mean he was just like he was like a doctor. He would have the pen behind his ear and be reading the piece of paper and be like this is what you're supposed to do And this is what they said. And I had no idea what was going on. I'm just like loopy on all the medication.
Speaker 1:Well, that's kind of fun.
Speaker 2:It was fun, i know it's like I never seen that side of him actually And now and I didn't really know what it was at the time I I've never seen it, but I guess people just do what they need to do When you need to do it. It was it's been a blessing, is what I have to get to. It was hard for me to deal with the loss of my face at first And that took about two and a half years. I didn't want to see anyone, i didn't want to do anything, because I'd gone out in public and one time and everyone was so nice but they were staring.
Speaker 2:I mean my husband, i was in a wheelchair and we were at the fresh market and my husband kept leaving me in the produce aisle, just leaving my wheelchair, and people would come up man, do you need help? Do you need help? They wouldn't do that if I was just standing there right And I was just feeling so conscious because, you know, my mouth wouldn't close. My mouth was hanging open, my bottom lip was down to here, my eye was crooked, my face didn't look like a face. People were staring, but they were trying to be nice. They gave me free food and I was just so traumatized by it. It sounds like a good thing, but I was so traumatized that I didn't go back out, So it's been five years now.
Speaker 1:Tanya.
Speaker 2:Four and a half going on five in December, and things are a lot different now, as you can see.
Speaker 1:Well, i don't know. I didn't see you before, i saw one picture, but I see you now and you are beautiful to me. You know, and did you work before?
Speaker 2:Oh, i was a realtor. I was a peer legal for 15 years and I was tired and I helped my husband build our tree company in Atlanta And I just helped him kind of get organized in the office because it was growing and it was doing well. I kept my peer legal job while he started the tree company, just in case somebody's got to be able to pay the bill.
Speaker 1:That's right, i said you pay job, right, right.
Speaker 2:So I kept it two years and then it was clear that it was okay. And then, after about five years to that, i thought I could live my dream of flipping houses. And I got my real estate license And I was working as a realtor so that I could earn the money to invest into flipping the houses. Because I didn't want to, oh wow, but I wanted to earn the money via house. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Like all the way from. Yes, of course I know what you mean.
Speaker 2:I wanted all me right But I got burned. I had only just gotten started. I was at Ierian and I got burned. And I got calls after I got home from the hospital that I was not capable of going to show people houses, So I would just prefer them to other realtors and such. But it changed everything in my life.
Speaker 1:So what are?
Speaker 2:you doing now? I'm an influencer, i'm a beauty.
Speaker 1:I know that You are a social and you are an influencer, like me, and I love that about you. You are.
Speaker 2:I didn't mean for it to happen. I don't know about you, Me either Right, It was just that I wanted to help other burn survivors. I made a video for my Facebook friends after I got enough nerve to tell them what had happened to me, Because for two and a half years they didn't know if I was dead alive. Nobody knew what happened And I made this video that I didn't know enough about social media to know that the whole world could see it, not just my friend. That was on YouTube and Facebook and people started to message me.
Speaker 2:Like oh, I love your makeup and it's so inspirational. And that was the moment that I realized I've been wondering what am I going to do with the rest of my life, Because I was 47 by then.
Speaker 1:Youngster, i got a little bit of a shock, yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm 50 now I don't feel like a youngster, i feel great, but I didn't know what I was going to do with my life. And then these people came to me and it was like a no-brainer, i'm going to help other burn survivors And I didn't realize you could get like collaborations and brand ambassadorships and all these things, and when I first started to get them I felt guilty, like I wasn't worthy of it. So that made me work even harder, because we are worthy. It's not about our face, or I love my makeup, i love hair, i love glam, but the beauty is deep in here And that's what I work for every day And I had to learn it this way, but at least I learned it. At least I learned. And then it's amazing the way that I get to talk to people And it's not all burn survivors that come to me, people who are looking for confidence or just motivation, inspiration, the transgender community, a lot the LGBTQ.
Speaker 1:Exactly, exactly. You know my platform, obviously.
Speaker 2:I heard you talk about that And I thought look at that, because they're so wonderful And I feel like they're left out. And they see me And they're like ah, yes, steven, yes, you got it Right, and even for a while my TikTok is not as big as my other platforms, because at first people thought I was a man.
Speaker 1:What did they think you were? I didn't hear that.
Speaker 2:They thought I was a man.
Speaker 1:Well, whatever.
Speaker 2:Really And anytime. I would post my face one year healed, it wasn't bloody or anything, But it would be called violent and graphic content And I was like mm. Imagine what that does to your. It was just all in it, But you can imagine what it does to you.
Speaker 1:Yes, of course.
Speaker 2:And I'm loving it because it's growing And I'm finding all these new people again to grow a community like you have. It's so important to have these communities. Very important And where people get it and believe in you and have lived it. So I love it, but I definitely never meant to be.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, on this same way, i discovered it two years ago, just by chance And boom. So you know, most of the people that I interview on my podcast are people that are an inspiration to me, like yourself and coming back from things that we would never imagine would ever happen to us, right?
Speaker 2:And that's the thing. Who would ever think you're going to get burned not just get burned Right So badly burned that you've lost your face and it's been replaced twice. They had to replace my face. The first time they replaced my face it was it went necrotic.
Speaker 1:Mmm.
Speaker 2:Because I had like a virus. So if you've got a cold sore, just know that can be a problem.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, like the whole face died. The whole face that they had just placed died because of that. And that was the point where my husband puts in the diary that he's not sure I'm going to make it where he felt like I don't know.
Speaker 2:But but I did make it. And just by chance, making one video has changed my life because I started to understand true beauty. I love always on makeup that I started to understand where the beauty was really coming from. And people come to me now and say, oh, you're so beautiful. I mean, i see my scars, i see my facial difference. I don't, i don't feel like they're talking about, just like they are in the makeup They're talking about.
Speaker 1:So tell me about this before we wrap up What advice would you give to people who have gone through hell and come back?
Speaker 2:Number one is keep going. You can't ever give up the the keep going and figure out what's next. You have to have something to look forward to And you can't quit. It's just not an option. You have survived hell to get where you are, so quitting isn't an option, even though it doesn't feel good inside you. If you hold on, this, too, shall pass As well. Always use that phrase. If you hold on, this too shall pass.
Speaker 1:Oh, thank you so much for coming into TikTok. Who's been doing you require from how you do the TikTok though? Loveies, morning bitches, you're amazing, i love you picked up.
Speaker 1:Lastly, if that I'm going to work on this then I'll let you know when it's on Spotify And then you could do what you want with it. Put it anywhere and everywhere. Yeah, i want to share it with all my Do it. I'm going to end the session for all right now, and if no one told you they love you today, i love you because you do Thank you, and you're gonna get something from me a cup, hoodie, whatever, i don't know yet. Okay, i love you and God loves you.
Speaker 2:I love you. Thank you for having me. I love you all, Muah bye.