It was an early spring day…one of those days where the temperatures where high enough you could head outside, yet not hot. It was very cloudy, with a light breeze. The ideal kind of day for sailing.
We owned an O’Day Daysailer, a little trailerable 17’ sailboat, we loved to take out on Winnisquam Lake in New Hampshire. 
On this say, we had our four year old son, and our 1 year old daughter. We were all bundled in sweatshirts, and the kids had life jackets.
We had a great day sailing, with my wife shielding our daughter from the sun by having her face the water.
When we all got off the boat, we were all a little pink in the cheeks even with the cloudy day.
The next day, the pink was gone on everyone except my daughter, whose face (the only part exposed due to the sweatshirt) was a bright red.
By the afternoon, her face was beginning to blister. We didn’t understand the sun’s rays were still present through the clouds, and by having her face the water our daughters’ face was exposed even more.
We took our daughter to the doctor that same afternoon, and they sent us to the Shriners Hospital for Children in Boston and their Burn Care Center.
We quickly saw a Doctor, who looked at her now oozing face and said she had second degree burns and it would need to be debried. We had no idea what a debridement was, quickly were holding down our screaming baby daughter as the Doctor methodically removed damaged skin from her face.
“You’ll thank me for this the night of your prom,” the Doctor quietly said to our injured daughter.
We had to do the same process at home twice a day for what felt like weeks, with our son not understanding why we were making his sister scream.
We had to keep returning to the Shriners Burn Care center for regular follow on checkups. While there, we got to see the (loving) care and attention the staff give their young patients.
And the charge for this?
Nothing.
I insisted they charge my insurance (that’s why I have it) and they explained they only work on donations.
So the next time you see a Shriner, either dressed as a clown, or in their fez, please thank them for me….and help with their cause.
And our daughter? She’s a little sun sensitive…and doing fine thank you. To look at her beautiful face, you would never know.