On November 18, 1978, in Flint, Michigan, 14-month-old Keith Edmonds wouldn’t stop crying in his crib. His mother’s boyfriend, angry at the sound, pressed the baby’s face against an electric heater, leaving third-degree burns on half of his face. The man was sentenced to ten years in prison.
Keith spent a month in the hospital fighting to survive, then continued treatment at the Shriners Burn Institute in Cincinnati until he turned 18. He became a ward of the state and lived in foster care until his mother was proven innocent and they were reunited.
The pain and trauma of his childhood led Keith into years of drug and alcohol abuse through his twenties. But on his 35th birthday, July 9, 2012, during a drinking binge, he suddenly realized he wanted to change his life and become a better person.
In 2016, he started the Keith Edmonds Foundation to support abused and neglected children. The organization runs programs like Backpacks of Love, which gives supplies to foster kids, and Camp Confidence, a summer camp that offers guidance and encouragement to survivors of abuse.
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