43 years later, woman burned in famous napalm attack hopeful treatment will make her scars fade

In one of the most iconic photographs from the Vietnam War, a young girl is seen running down the street, her eyes closed as she screams in pain, not wearing any clothes because they were on fire and she had to rip them off. Kim Phuc is 9 years old, and she's just been severely burned during an accidental napalm strike by the South Vietnamese military against her village.

The picture was taken in Trang Bang on June 8, 1972, by Nick Ut of The Associated Press. As Phuc's skin began to peel off, Ut put her into a van and drove her to the hospital; throughout the trip, she wailed: "I think I'm dying, too hot, too hot." Over one-third of her body was burned, but she survived, at a time when most people who had similar injuries over 10 percent of their bodies died, her dermatologist told her. After dropping her off at the hospital, Ut filed the pictures he took, and the photo of Phuc ultimately won the Pulitzer Prize.

Phuc, now 52, has lived in pain since that day, with scar tissue four times as thick as her normal skin covering almost all of her back, her neck, and her left hand up her arm. In late September, Phuc started a promising new treatment in Miami with Dr. Jill Waibel to smooth and soften the scars; after giving Phuc a sedative and covering her skin with numbing cream, Waibel used lasers to heat the skin and vaporize scar tissue. Waibel is donating her services, and expects Phuc to need about seven more treatments, which run between $1,500 to $2,000 each time, over the next eight to nine months. "So many years I thought that I have no more scars, no more pain when I'm in heaven," Phuc told AP. "But now — heaven on earth for me."

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Phuc moved to the Toronto area in the 1990s, and lives with her husband, Bui Huy Toan, and sons. Her husband accompanied her to Miami, and so did the man Phuc calls "Uncle Ut." Since 1972, Ut and Phuc have remained in touch, with Ut telling AP he thinks of Phuc as a daughter. "He's the beginning and the end," Phuc said. "He took my picture and now he'll be there with me on this new journey, new chapter. ... Maybe it takes a year, but I am really excited, and thankful."