I'm Elise Hugh. You're listening to TED Talks Daily. Fire scared Danielle Torley for her entire life after a tragedy she survived as a small child. But she turned her greatest fear into a triumph and rush that she now performs for people all around the world. In her 2020 talk from

TED at PMI, Torley shares how she healed from her past by exposing herself to actual flames.

When I was six years old, our house caught fire and my mother died.

It was a cold February night in Michigan.

Our chimney had recently been fixed, so we had a warm fire going in the fireplace.

My younger sister and I were sitting next to our dog and coloring with a brand new box of colored pencils

when mom said it was time for bed.

We'd planned to go up north that night

for a weekend of snowmobiling and sledding, but it was already dark and snowing outside, so we

decided to leave the next morning instead. We went upstairs, brushed our teeth, climbed into bed,

my sister's room right next to the stairs, and mine at the far end of the hallway. Our parents tucked us in and kissed us goodnight, then left the door open just a crack

and the hallway light on as it always was. In the middle of the night, I woke up, sweating,

confused because I couldn't see that hallway light. I started shouting for my parents until

finally I heard words that I'll

never forget. Dave, it's a fire. We later found out that our fire from earlier had burned

through an unrepaired crack in the chimney, causing the fireplace doors to explode and fire to just

pour into the living room. I remember my mom running down to my sister's room, frantically searching for her and finally

finding her on the floor.

I crawled after her in my hands and knees, trying not to breathe in the smoke.

I remember standing next to my sister's room, trying to turn on that hallway light, but it was already on.

I just couldn't see it because the smoke was so thick.

I remember feeling the heat of the fire on my skin and hearing the sound of it as it climbed up the stairs.

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