Healing the Emotional Scars of an Acid Attack on a Child

The scars and burn marks on 6-year-old Rachel Ogawa’s body are healed so well now that it is almost impossible to tell that she was once the victim of a brutal assault by a man who splashed acid in her face.

Two years after the attack, which left first-degree burns on the eyes, face, chest, arms and legs of his daughter, Gary Ogawa says the emotional scars left on his family are also healed.

“She is doing so well that we can almost forget about the incident,” he said, stroking his daughter’s hair as she sat on his lap.

But the memory of the day his daughter became the victim of a “senseless” crime will not leave him.

“Sometimes I think, if I could relive that day I would do something different,” Gary Ogawa said. “But I know it was completely out of my hands.”

On that day in January of 1986, Rachel and her mother, Elaine Ogawa, were leaving a public restroom following a picnic at Los Coyotes Regional Park when a man, later identified as 26-year-old Mark Edward Hand, tossed two cups of acid at the girl.

At first Rachel did not even flinch, Elaine Ogawa said. “I thought it was just water. I thought it was some kind of joke.”

But within a few seconds the acid began to burn Rachel Ogawa’s eyes and skin.

Rachel began screaming and crying. Ogawa drove her and his wife to the front of the park to get help. No rangers were nearby, but a motorcyclist hurriedly called paramedics while Ogawa carried his daughter to a 3-foot-deep pond a short distance away. There he doused her with cold water to wash off the acid.

Rachel Ogawa was taken to St. Jude Hospital in Fullerton, where she underwent weeklong treatment. The acid, which caused Rachel Ogawa’s eyes to swell shut, did not permanently damage her sight. “We were just lucky she wasn’t blinded or scarred for life,” Gary Ogawa said.

Months later, when Rachel Ogawa began complaining about throat pains, it was determined that some of the acid had been swallowed and burned her esophagus, Gary Ogawa said. She had to return to the hospital to receive further treatment, he said.

“But our life is now back on a normal track,” said Gary Ogawa, an assistant professor of chemical pharmacy at USC. “We are just trying to put everything behind us.”

Elaine Ogawa has even put behind her any feeling toward the man who was found guilty and sent to prison for the crime.

“We don’t have any ill feelings,” she said. “It is something that has long passed.”

Gary Ogawa agreed. “It’s hard to feel hatred now. I’m just happy that he is in jail.”

Hand, an ex-convict from Whittier, was arrested a few days after the attack by Buena Park police, who received a tip from his mother. He was found guilty of assault with a caustic chemical and intent to cause bodily harm. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison, two of those years for a previous burglary charge.

Hand is being held at Atascadero State Hospital, where he is receiving psychological therapy and medication, said Gale Lewis, associate warden at the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo.

Ogawa said he has been told that Hand will be eligible for parole after serving about half his term.

Today, the Ogawa family still goes to outings like other families, Gary Ogawa said. His daughter has no apprehension about going to parks or public restrooms.

“We thought at first that she would have nightmares and things like that,” but there were none, he said. “She was too young to understand what had happened.”

When the news of the attack became known to the public, the Ogawa family received nearly 400 cards and letters of support from people throughout the country, Gary Ogawa said.

“Rachel really appreciated getting all those cards and gifts,” Elaine Ogawa said.

“We were at a total loss at the time, and it was good to know that there were people out there praying for us,” Gary Ogawa said.