Quotes from Katie Piper

People always go on about me being an inspiration, which is nice. But it's an unrealistic pedestal to be put on. There are other people out there who have had things happen to them, not just me.

My recovery has been backwards, forwards, up and down - and still is.

Through my work at the Katie Piper Foundation, I've seen how the smallest of kindness can make a difference to someone's life. Even a simple smile instead of a start can lift someone's heart.

I see it as someone who's been burned doesn't have to be put in this box where they can't be glamorous - I try and live that vision all the time and push those stereotypes away. That's all you can do.

It's one thing for your mum to tell you that you look OK, but she's your mum and she has to tell you you're beautiful. It's not the same as a stranger telling you.

Since the attack I have undergone over 250 operations to improve my physical functioning.

It's so easy to butt into a conversation and offer your own thoughts or opinions, but try not to interrupt. Instead, focus on what the other person is saying, think twice and be the person that listens. It's so much more valuable than constantly talking.

But like everyone else I've come to the sad realisation food banks are an all-too-common feature on the streets of Britain.

Before I was attacked, I would write about the future - just goals, lists and plans. I'd scribble without depth or substance about the things I wanted to do with my life, whether short or long-term, and how I thought my future would be: a successful career in TV and modelling, marriage, a family.

My dad and sister are vegetarian and I was brought up as one, but I ate a bit of fish and meat. After the attack my oesophagus melted and I had to have plastic stents put into my throat to rebuild it, so I couldn't swallow and I was fed via a high-calorie drip through my stomach.

I was standing in the street with people walking past me and I could feel my face evaporating. I thought I was on fire as the acid ate at my skin.

I was the victim of a violent attack in March 2008. I had sulphuric acid thrown in my face and was severely injured leaving me with loss of site in my eye and full thickness burns on my neck, chest, face and hands.

None of my ambitions were serious as a girl. One week I wanted to be a lawyer, the next a binman.

I'm so lucky that I've always been able to laugh about things, even at my very lowest times.

In March 2008, when I was 24 years old, a man I had been dating arranged for an accomplice to throw sulphuric acid in my face.