On what should have been a perfect day – blue skies, calm water, a family celebrating a 21st birthday – everything changed in an instant.
In the latest episode of You’re Gonna Want To Hear This, Stephanie Browitt who has just published her first book, written with her mother Marie, entitled Out Of The Ashes, recounts the moment the White Island volcano erupted in 2019, and the unimaginable aftermath that followed. At just 23, Browitt suffered burns to 70 per cent of her body. She lost her younger sister, Krystal Eve, and her father, Paul, in the tragedy. But this is not simply a story about what happened on that island. It’s a story about survival – and everything that comes after.
Listen To You’re Gonna Want To Hear This
“I Thought This Was It”
The day had started like any other holiday moment. “It was a very beautiful day… you couldn’t imagine the outcome considering what you could see,” Browitt says. What followed was sudden and catastrophic. “I thought, I can’t believe this is happening… I thought this was it,” she says.
Engulfed in ash, toxic gas and searing heat, Browitt was knocked to the ground, her body severely burned. In that moment, survival became singular. “I knew if I passed out… there was a huge possibility I wouldn’t wake up again,” she says. “So I had to stay awake.”
The Fight to Stay Alive
In the immediate aftermath, help did not come in the way anyone expected. It was civilians – three men who saw the eruption from the mainland – who made the decision to go in. “They didn’t even question their safety… they just thought there could be people we need to save,” Browitt says. For Browitt, those moments were defined by both physical endurance and something deeper – an emotional tether that refused to let her go.
“I put up a good fight because I wanted to get back to my family,” she says. More specifically: “I had to get back to my mum.”
A Mother’s Unimaginable Reality
While Browitt fought for her life, her mother Marie was living through a different kind of trauma – one defined by uncertainty, fear and devastating loss. Within hours, she would lose her husband and daughter, while her remaining child lay in critical condition.
“My mum’s number one concern was just keeping me alive,” Browitt says. That meant making impossible decisions – including shielding her daughter from the truth in the early days of recovery. “She was worried that if I knew… I wouldn’t keep fighting,” Browitt explains. What emerges is a portrait not just of survival, but of caregiving at its most profound. “My mum has always been my best friend… she was there every single day,” she says.
Recovery Is Not What You Think It Is
If survival was one battle, recovery was another entirely. Browitt underwent countless surgeries, skin grafts and rehabilitation sessions – often simultaneously navigating intense physical pain and overwhelming grief.
“It’s a rollercoaster… you can’t predict what the next day is going to bring,” she says. There were moments of deep psychological struggle, particularly when she first saw her reflection. “I felt horrible looking at myself,” she says. “If I feel this way, how are other people going to see me?”
Redefining Strength – And Beauty
Over time, that relationship with her body began to shift. What once felt confronting became something else entirely – a marker of survival. “I value and respect my body so much more now,” Browitt says. And of her scars: “They are a symbol of my healing… a reminder of what my body had to endure.”
Today, she speaks about them not with fear – but with clarity. “I can’t see them any differently now than a representation of my strength.”
“I Try To Live A Life That Would Make Them Proud”
Grief, of course, does not disappear. It reshapes itself. Browitt speaks openly about the loss of her father and sister – not as something she has moved on from, but something she carries with her every day. “I try to live my life how I know they would want me to,” she says. “I hope I’m making them proud.”
A Story That Stays With You
What makes Browitt’s story so powerful is not just the scale of what she endured – but how she has chosen to live in its aftermath. There is resilience, certainly. Strength, undeniably. But at its core, this is a story about love.
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