When I first met Steph Browitt, I was a little nervous.

She was recovering from horrific burns and grieving the tragic loss of her dad, Paul, and sister, Krystal.

I was worried about saying the wrong thing or accidentally touching her skin and causing her even more pain.

But it wouldn’t take long for me to realise nothing was going to unnerve Steph. She’s the strongest, toughest young woman I’ve ever known.
Stephanie Bowitt is a survivor of the 2019 White Island volcano disaster in New Zealand. (60 Minutes)
A couple of years before we met, Steph was part of a 60 Minutes story about the day the White Island volcano erupted.

It was December 9, 2019. Steph was on a cruise in New Zealand with her mum, Marie, Paul and Krystal, when they were offered a shore excursion to the volcano. Paul and the girls signed up, with no idea of the danger they’d be in.

There was nothing they could do to outrun the terror when the volcano erupted.

Twenty-two people were killed, including Paul, 55, and Krystal, who’d just turned 21.

Steph was among 25 others badly injured.

She spent months in hospital recovering from severe burns to more than 70 per cent of her body. Eight of her fingers had to be amputated.

In 2020, Steph was one of several survivors interviewed by Sarah Abo for 60 Minutes, along with some of the heroes who rescued them.
Steph was one of several survivors interviewed by Sarah Abo for 60 Minutes, along with some of the heroes who rescued them. (60 Minutes)
To help her skin heal, the 24-year-old was wearing compression bandages on her face and body.

Two years later, Steph was finally ready to remove those never-ending reminders of her injuries, and quite literally face the world, unmasked, for the first time since the tragedy.

It was a huge moment of triumph and she wanted to share it with 60 Minutes.

I was assigned to produce the story.

Just a year older than Steph, it was impossible not to picture myself in her position.

I have two sisters who I can’t imagine life without.

My dad loves nothing more than joining his girls for an adventure, just like Paul did.

And Marie lives and breathes for her family in the same way my mum always has.

 
Twenty-two people were killed, including Paul, 55, and Krystal, who’d just turned 21. (60 Minutes)
What happened to Steph’s family could’ve easily happened to mine.

The day she took her face mask off is something I’ll never forget.

We had the room set-up for the big reveal, with five cameras ready to roll.

Steph took her seat in front of a mirror, next to Sarah, and pulled back her mask, revealing her beaming face and gorgeous blonde hair.

“Oh Steph, you’re beautiful,” Sarah said.

“Thank you,” she replied.

“This is me.”

The cameraman who shot the story was a 60 Minutes veteran who’d seen it all – and had the camera tapes to prove it.

He also has a daughter, close in age to Steph.

I’d never seen him tear up during an interview. Until Steph started talking about her dad. It got me, too.

“I do wish my dad and sister were still alive and still with me and that they could be here for this moment,” Steph said.

“I just hope that I have made them proud of who I’ve become over the past few years.

“That’s all I can wish for.”
Stephanie and her mother, Marie, have had to re-live the deeply traumatic event in the years following, as they’ve fought an uphill legal battle against the cruise liner Royal Caribbean. (60 Minutes)
Taking her mask off was an incredibly brave thing to do, in any circumstance, let alone on national television. I was in awe of Steph’s courage.

We spent a week with her, documenting her adjustment to life without her compression garments.

She was driving again, and enjoying the chance to buy new clothes, her fashion choices no longer restricted by the thick bandages.

We organised a lunch to celebrate her 26th birthday, where her friends saw her beautiful face – her smile and her scars – for the first time.

Throughout it all, Steph’s strength and confidence was astounding. But where did it come from?

The answer was always right beside her. Her mum, Marie.

The two of them have a special bond, forged through unfathomable pain.

Since losing Paul and Krystal, Marie and Steph have become each other’s lifeline.
Since losing Paul and Krystal, Marie and Steph have become each other’s lifeline. (60 Minutes)
Even though Marie was tormented by her own grief, she did everything for Steph. She was her nurse, her counsellor, her reason to live.

Likewise, on Marie’s darkest days, it was Steph who kept her holding on.

As their lawyer, Peter Gordon, put it, “They are both alive today because of each other”.

“They both had so much trauma, injury, hardship, and despair in their lives, but also so much commitment to each other, and it is genuinely true to say that each one of them got the other one through,” he said.
Lawyer Peter Gordon took on the Browitts’ fight to hold the cruise company responsible. (60 Minutes)
In all the years we worked with Steph for 60 Minutes – five stories, in total – she had her mum’s unwavering support.

Steph’s recovery was Marie’s top priority, which meant her own grief had to wait.

“I’ve never spoken out before because I fear that I might break,” Marie said.

“I just had to make sure that I got to the point where I was healthy enough that I could do it, and it had to be the right time.”

Marie was also waiting until Royal Caribbean, the cruise liner that sent her family to White Island, had taken some accountability.

With Peter’s help, they launched a case against the company, arguing passengers shouldn’t have been sent to White Island because the risk of an eruption was too high.

“The irresponsibility of it is breathtaking,” Peter said.

It was his stroke of genius that landed their case in an American courtroom, where they had more legal rights and access to higher compensation than in New Zealand or Australia.
In a US court, they had more legal rights and access to higher compensation than in New Zealand or Australia. (60 Minutes)
Peter insisted the negligence had occurred – not on White Island – but in Florida, where Royal Caribbean’s office staff had made the decision to sell tours of the volcano.

In 2024, the Browitts flew to Miami for a trial by jury. But the night before it was set to start, there was an unexpected twist. Royal Caribbean made a confidential offer to settle the case. After an agonising discussion, the Browitts agreed to accept it.

“It was just a matter of, ‘What would dad and Krystal think?’” Steph said.

“And I thought that they’d be so proud of how far we had come, of the fight that we upheld, and that we weren’t going to let them just stand on us and throw us aside, so it was about just making the right decision for our family in that moment, and I think we did.”
Throughout it all, Steph’s strength and confidence was astounding. But where did it come from? (60 Minutes)
For Marie, it felt like a burden had been lifted.

“We had this pressure on us, we had this weight on us that they continued to push hard down on,” she said.

“I do feel a little vindicated.”

Accepting the settlement was a big deal for Peter, as well. The Browitts had become more than clients to him. Marie and Steph had grown close to his wife, Kerri – also a pillar of his legal practice – and their twin daughters, who are the same age as Steph.

“Sometimes as a lawyer, you have the privilege of acting for people and you feel like you’ve changed their lives. But every now and then – just every now and then, not all that often – clients will come along and they change your life,” he said.

“That’s how I feel about Marie and Steph.”
A large part of Stephanie’s miraculous recovery is because of another amazing woman, her unassuming mum. (60 Minutes)
Well, the same goes for stories. The Browitts’ story has certainly changed my life, and I hope it changes yours too.

Marie and Steph’s book, Out of the Ashes, details their pain and precious memories. But it’s also full of hope, and proof of the extraordinary things you can achieve with someone you love by your side.