How sore can it get?

If I had to recall one of the most physically uncomfortable situations in my life it would be one as a result of a sunburn. I'm sure most of you have experienced a burn so bad that it kept you awake at night. The kind where you thought that it just couldn't get any worse.

I was on the shores of the Indian ocean in Mombasa, Kenya. At 8 years old there are still a few things that a parent needs to do for their child or they just won't do it themselves; applying sunscreen is one of them. With her gone that day I was left to play with a friend by the pool all day. You know where this is going, the scorching rays of the African sun, no hat, no shirt, no sunscreen - by the time 5 o'clock rolled around I looked like a walking tomato.

When she arrived back to find me huddled in my bed with a towel drenched in water, I will never forget the look on her face. It said "I am so sorry I left you, and how stupid are you" all at the same time. I was in so much pain I fainted twice. My skin was so hot that it turned an ice cold wet towel warm in seconds. Rushed to the hospital I remember the look on the faces of the staff working there - it only made me feel worse.

I had managed to get the most severe burn the doctor had ever seen, not necessarily because of the amount of my exposure but because I had such fair skin. The only remedy at the time was painkiller, and aloe vera gel. That is the worst thing about a sunburn, only time can cure your misery.

That night I laid awake unable to sleep a wink. It hurt everywhere, I wanted to sleep standing up because anything touching my body only made it worse. You can imagine rolling around in a hard, sterile hospital bed - ouch!

The following days were hell. I started to look like I had leprosy, blisters had formed everywhere and I was peeling like a stripper in Vegas; not fun.

So I think we all can agree that not protecting yourself from the sun is one of the dumbest things you can do - I still wondering today what that one sunburn has done to my skin and the potential of the C-word.