At 7:01 p.m., Jim Winnett was on Laurel Canyon Boulevard near Sheldon Street in Arleta, waiting to turn left into his housing track when he glanced in the rear view mirror. 
"White Ford van, it's not going to stop," Jim Winnett said with eyes glued to the mirror.  "It's gonna hit us." 
 His wife Bridget yanked at the seat belt frantically trying to fasten it before impact.  "Please God, just save my babies," she cried when their white Nissan Maxima was hit from behind, her seat belt was inches from being clasped.
 Belted in the back seat were 3 1/2 year old Blake and 6 month old Amanda, who were engulfed with flames all around them.
 That was Dec. 23, 1986, and 12 1/2 years later Amanda is having her 12th surgery to try and correct the damage inflicted on her that night. 
Because of this experience Amanda and her family have accomplished many things.  They have brought awareness to others about burn victims by being speakers at a various events and helped raise funds for Shriners Hospital, who has done her cosmetic surgery. 
 Bridget Winnett also fought the city for a left turn lane at the intersection of Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Tonopah Street where their accident and many others had occurred. 
                       What remains of their Nissan Maxima.

It took almost a year, but it's there and possibly others now are saved from a collision and injury. 
 
 

Amanda had been burned over 40% of her body, predominately on the right side of her head and her right hand.  Investigators believed that as the car interior was melting, a  part of it fell onto her head and her tiny hand had ineffectively been trying to get it off.  She ended up losing only 1/3 of her right index finger.
Blake had a compressed skull fracture and some burns, though not as extensive as Amanda's.  Flame retardant clothing had saved them from being more severely burned. 
 Amanda, now almost 13 years old, had undergone multiple skin grafts and tissue expansion surgeries.  Tissue expansion is where pouches or silicone bags are surgically placed under the skin.  Saltwater is injected into the bag over a period of weeks.  This expands the bags and stretches the skin.  The bags are then drained and surgically removed.  The burn scarred skin is cut away and the stretched skin is pulled over to cover where the burn area was.  This surgery was done on her head seven years ago which enabled her to have hair on the right side of her head.                 Amanda at 1 years old (right).
     After her tissue replacement surgery for her head.

The same procedure was applied to her hand, hoping to stretch the skin enough to remove the burn marks on the top of her hand.  However it was not as successful. 
 Her eyes fill as she looks at her hand.  "I thought it would be better," she said as the tears stream down her cheeks.  "Why did it have to happen to me." 
 The tissue expansion pouch was placed under the skin on the back of her hand, close to her wrist.  Her hand was bandaged and had to be kept in an elevated position.  The bag was expanded several times a week for eight weeks. During which Amanda was on a lot of pain medication and still crying "it hurts, it hurts."  Unknown until the bandage came off was that the stretching had bent her fingers so far back that the knuckles on the top of her hand was now coming through the palm of her hand.  Her fingers had been stretched to form a right angle in the opposite direction fingers are meant to move. 
 The skin had also stretched past its limit and had started to split open, allowing the pouch to come out.  This meant that the doctors were unable to replace most of the scar tissue.
 Through physical therapy she is now able to have her fingers straight up, but is still unable to make a fist. 
 As far as she has come, Amanda will need several more surgeries on her hand to try and remove the scar tissue which she said she is unsure if she wants to undergo.  "It's been a long hard haul," Bridget Winnett said.