Editor’s note: The Naples Daily News occasionally checks on people, organizations and issues that were in local news in recent months. Have an idea? Email dave.osborn@naplesnews.com or call 239-435-3435 and leave a brief message.
A lot of things have changed in Audrey Mabrey's life in the last seven months.
The domestic violence survivor and burn victim now has nearly full motion in her arms and neck. She can now carry groceries up the stairs without help, swim off the white sandy beaches of Siesta Key and hold form with a dance partner.
And eight years after her ex-husband attacked her, giving her the scars she now lives with every day, Mabrey has found love again. His name is David Prosper — a fateful coincidence. He's intelligent, funny and an "old school" romantic, and he thinks she's the most beautiful person in the world.
"There was something about her," Prosper said. "She had this energy and this light, and it drew me close."
More: In her journey to recovery, a domestic violence survivor found friendship in Naples
Finding normalcy
On Nov. 17, 2009, Audrey Mabrey was hit over the head with a hammer four times and lit on fire by her then-husband, a retired New York City detective. Christopher Hanney is now serving a life prison sentence.
Eight years later and Mabrey, who lives in Sarasota, has become an advocate for empowering other domestic violence survivors through a nonprofit organization called Break the Silence.
She's now nearing the end of an extensive burn reconstruction to repair the scar tissue on her face, upper chest and upper arms. And it's all at no cost to her — a blessing, she said.
Seven years ago, Audrey Mabry's husband lit her on fire. He now faces life in prison. She now faces life with the scars. Yet, in her journey to recovery, Aubrey found friendship in Naples through her surgeon and his wife, a fellow burn victim.
Mabrey still visits Naples plastic surgeon Dr. Stanley Gulin twice a week. The two were connected by a Los Angeles-based nonprofit called Face Forward, which provides pro bono surgeries to victims of violent and disfiguring crimes.
Gulin and his wife, Ina, a fellow burn victim, have become like family, Mabrey said.
Ina Gulin has spent many hours in the hospital with Mabrey as she comes out of 10- and 12-hour-long plastic surgeries. Ina bought a healing crystal necklace that Mabrey often wears around her neck.
"It's like a mother-daughter relationship," Mabrey said. "But it's also like best friends."
Ina Gulin, who was 6 years old when she suffered third-degree burns to 50 percent of her body, said she understands what it's like to go through burn reconstruction, an ongoing and emotional process.
"I instantly wanted to help her," Gulin said in May. "It just brought back memories. You just want to hold her."
Vulnerability to acceptance
It's been seven months since the Naples Daily News first reported on Mabrey's journey with the Naples plastic surgeon, and the changes in Mabrey's physical appearance are staggering.
Scar tissue released along her neck have given her a jawline again. For five months Mabrey carried a tissue expander — a grapefruit-sized balloon filled with saline — under the skin of her back to stretch the skin and remove a scar.
"I was the Hunchback of Notre Dame for five months," she joked.
It's the little things in life Mabrey said she enjoys having back. She can now hold form with a dancing partner. Now, without bruises and stitches peppering her face after countless procedures, she can wear makeup again. Still, Mabrey admits she's gotten used to not wearing it.
It's been a year-long process with Dr. Gulin, and she still has about another six months to go to repair minor scar tissue around her mouth and eyelids.
But it's the inner growth Mabrey said that is most important to her.
"Ultimately it was a very emotional process, but it’s brought me to that next level of acceptance," she said.
'Plans to prosper you'
Audrey Mabrey and David Prosper met at an academy for the National Speakers Association, of which they are both members. They chatted. Exchanged business cards. Prosper wanted to learn more about her story.
"I was just blown away that someone who can face something like that can still be so loving," he recalled.
Five months later and they both say each other is "the one."
Mabrey, who once said she may never be able to trust someone again, said her new boyfriend is a perfect gentleman, and he is who he says he is.
"When you have a partner who consistently backs up what he says with action, it creates a level of trust that is unbreakable, really," she said
Together, Mabrey and Prosper are on a mission to travel the world as public speakers and teach others about healthy relationships. They've become partners in life and in business.
"(People) are really existing in unhealthy relationships whether it’s work, family, friends, so our goal is to eliminate that," Mabrey said.
And of course, she had to introduce Prosper to Ina Gulin, who gave him a stern talking-to.
"Don't mess with her," she told him with affection.
Tattooed on his right bicep is a Bible verse Mabrey discovered after the fire that burned her skin and changed her life forever. Jeremiah 29:11 reads:
" 'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.' "
It must be fate, they agree.
"What (the verse) said to me was that this was not to harm me, that this was to prosper me and give me hope of a future," Mabrey said. "He had that on his arm, and his name is Prosper, as well. So to me that’s a divine side from God."