Surviving White Island

Surviving the unsurvivable. Healing from the unhealable. This is an inspiring memoir of physical and mental recovery, from someone who lived through the Whakaari White Island volcanic eruption.

"I heard someone say, 'Wow!' And someone else exclaimed, 'Look at that!' I had my back to the crater. I turned around. The moment I saw it, I knew what was happening.

The island was erupting. An enormous black-and-grey plume was rising above the island, already higher than the peak. It was beautiful actually, set against the bright blue sky.

Kelsey Waghorn, a guide on Whakaari White Island on that ill-fated day in December 2019, tells her story for the first time, from physical rehab for her life-threatening burns to her mental struggle with PTSD.

Written by a brave and powerful woman with a wicked sense of humour, this is an uplifting story of strength, perseverance, acceptance and hope.

About the Author

Kelsey Waghorn was born in Palmerston North and grew up in Whakatane on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. She was still in high school when she discovered a passion for the sea and everything in it and on it. She gained a diploma in marine science and a degree in biological sciences and when, after graduating, she was offered a job taking tourists around Whakaari White Island she accepted so she could spend the summer on the sea going back and forth to the island. Five years and one day later she was still in the job. But that was the day her whole life changed...

On 9th December 2019, Whakaari White Island erupted, killing 22 people and severely injuring most of the others on the island at the time - Kelsey being one of them. She received full thickness burns to 45% of her body, and has since undergone 17 surgeries, and hundreds (if not thousands) of hours of rehab. She considered the physical part of her recovery the hardest thing she'd ever done, until the mental side of things kicked off.

Diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) a year or so after the eruption, she battled flashbacks, hypervigilance, panic attacks, fear, depression, dissociation, isolation and more. Her book Surviving White Island tells her story and how she managed to find the help she so desperately needed. After a lot of work and a lot of healing, she is now living life to the fullest.