Acid attack survivor Katie Piper urges viewers to "appreciate the beautiful things and the beautiful people that you have in your life now," in Channel 4's alternative to the Queen's Christmas Day broadcast this year.
Piper, a model and aspiring TV presenter before the attack, appeared in a Cutting Edge documentary titled Katie: My Beautiful Face this autumn - and received thousands of supportive messages from the public.
In her message, she reflects on her progress over the last year and how strangers' words of kindness have helped her to move forward.
Piper was left fighting for her life after former boyfriend Daniel Lynch raped her and then arranged for another man to hurl the corrosive liquid.
The acid burned through all four layers of skin on her face, some spilling down her throat, and she was left blind in one eye. Piper has undergone more than 30 operations on her face and throat.
But she tells how it took the tragedy for her to reassess her "self-obsessed" life.
Piper says: "This year I wanted to give a Christmas message to everybody out there who might have had a Christmas like I did last year."
She says that before the attack she would go home to her parents on Christmas Eve and: "Have a few drinks, see them, spend Christmas Day with them chilling out and go home on Boxing Day. My life before was very self-absorbed, self-obsessed and it took a tragedy for me to reassess my life and how I felt and what I thought was important."
She says in her message: "Don't wait 'til there is tragedy in your life. Don't wait 'til you lose somebody. Don't wait until it's too late. Appreciate the beautiful things and the beautiful people that you have in your life now."
:: The Alternative Christmas Message will be broadcast on Channel 4 on Christmas Day at 3pm.
