Kim Phuc, the young girl who was immortalized in a photograph taken during the 1972 Napalm bombing, has come a long way since that fateful day.

When the photo was taken, she was running away from her village, naked, after her clothing had been burnt off.  South Vietnamese planes had accidentally dropped napalm bombs on Trang Bang village which had been occupied by North Vietnamese troops. Phuc and others were only trying to flee when they were mistaken for soldiers and bombed with napalm. “My skin was on fire,” she says. “I was a happy 9-year-old child who knew nothing about war.”

That day changed her life forever.  The physical and emotional scars ran deep, but thanks to much soul-searching, 17 operations and a series of treatments with Lumenis UltraPulse® laser to treat scars on her back and left arm, Phuc is finally entering what she calls “a new chapter of healing.”

She spoke of her journey during an event sponsored by Lumenis at the Annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology in Washington, DC.   Together with Miami, Fla. dermatologist Jill S. Waibel, MD, who is treating Phuc pro bono, she announced the formation of The Restoring Heroes Foundation, a charity to help care for U.S wounded warriors. Restoring Heroes will provide care transportation and housing at no expense to the patient and their family. Restoring Heroes also aims to also develop a scar code which will be covered by TRICARE (insurance post-military service).

Phuc has had four laser treatments so far. “My scars are getting softer and I have less pain,” she says. “We are entering a new era of scar treatment. UltraPulse® has changed the game,” Waibel says. “It is my main tool and improves apparance as well as function and range of motion.”

On the emotional side, Phuc spent years working on forgiveness and trying to focus on the positive, and is first to admit that this wasn’t always easy. ”It was the hardest work of my life, but I did it. Try to see me as a symbol of peace, not war.”