Miss World America Shree Saini Reveals How She Overcame Horrific Accident to Capture Her Crown
courtesy Shree saini
Long before Shree Saini made history as the first Indian American to win Miss World America, she learned about the importance of "choosing resilience when met with hard times."
After surviving life-saving emergency surgery due to a complete heart block as a child, as well as a devastating car crash in college, the 26-year-old has worked hard to find ways to heal from her physical and emotional pain.
"My main focus is to help strengthen hearts — and not just physical hearts, but emotional hearts, because I think [you] can only be heart healthy if you're taking care of your emotional health as well," Saini, who received a pacemaker at 12, tells PEOPLE.
"Those are my main messages," she adds. "Each time I make sure I talk about choosing resilience when met with hard times. Responding with kindness, even when given unkind treatment."
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Less than a decade after surviving heart surgery, the beauty queen was involved in a roll-over accident while away at college in Washington.
"I remember my head hitting the roof of the car several times, me screaming at the top of my lungs and then being upside down in my car," she recalls of the moments after her car skidded on the ice.
courtesy Shree saini
While she credits first responders and God for saving her life, she couldn't believe her own eyes when she finally looked in the mirror and saw that she had been badly burned in the accident.
"No one should have survived that accident, looking at the condition of the car and how beaten up it was," Saini says.
"I was rushed to the ER, I had a lot of bruises. My entire face was blown up and I could not even see my ears," she recalls, adding that at the time she tried not to cry, "because the tears would burn my face."
For "months and months" as she continued her recovery process, Saini says she "actively avoided the mirror so I would not be reminded of the pain."
courtesy Shree saini
When she was released from the hospital, her doctors urged her to stay home to protect her face from the sunlight. In order to help with the healing process, as well as the pain, she was also given specific guidelines on how to clean her face.
"I was instructed to wash my face every few hours so my face would not stay the way it was," she says, noting that she used ice cubes and a washcloth so she could get under the "extra layers of skin" to help them come off.
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Although taking care of her skin was important, so was looking after her mental health. Knowing the toll isolation could have on her, Saini pushed to return to school.
"I talked to my doctors, and I said, 'Here's the medical kit I made. Can I please go to university, go back to college? Because putting my life on hold, sitting at home, feeling sad, I don't think is a way I want to live my life,' " she says now.
courtesy Shree saini
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Saini, who is now a semi-finalist for Miss World and will compete in Puerto Rico later this month,
credits technology and her positive attitude for keeping her alive.
Aside from winning, her main goal is to inspire others who may be in her shoes.
"Just like my pacemaker, I just find ways to live with it," shares Saini, who has served over 100 charities to date through her reign as Miss World America. "And I'm just really grateful again that I survived and I am here now."
"I can use that message through Miss World to just help people, encourage them, and inspire them. Right now, my entire focus is just doing my best, representing the U.S.," she adds. "So that's my full focus and we'll see what happens."
