At just fourteen months old, Keith Edmonds faced a tragedy no child should ever endure. In 1978, his mother’s boyfriend pressed his tiny face against an electric heater, causing devastating third-degree burns across nearly half of his face. Doctors warned survival was uncertain—and even if he lived, life would never be the same. Keith lived. And from that survival grew a story of resilience, courage, and purpose.
The years that followed were grueling. Childhood for Keith was a cycle of hospital visits, surgeries at the Shriners Burn Institute in Cincinnati, and the quiet pain of growing up looking different in a world that rarely celebrates difference. Foster care, separation from his mother, and the knowledge that his attacker received only a ten-year sentence added layers of trauma. At school, whispers and stares reminded him daily that the world judged him first by his scars.
By his teenage years, the weight of trauma turned inward. At thirteen, Keith turned to alcohol to numb the pain—a coping mechanism that shadowed him into adulthood, feeding depression and addiction. Life was survival without joy.
Then came a turning point. On his 35th birthday, in the midst of a binge, Keith felt clarity. He was tired of running from his past. That day, he committed to sobriety and began rebuilding his life.
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