Kim Phuc Phan Thai, the girl that was photographed in an iconic 1972 image from the Vietnam war linked to a Pulitzer prize, has emerged decades later to speak about her survival story.

Kim Phuc Phan Thai photo.

Phuc had an interview published Thursday on HealthDay.com to give a message of hope to burns survivors. At 9-years old, she was photographed running on the street naked, in obvious pain from napalm burns that affected most of her body.

Sixty-five percent of my body got burned, Phuc said in the interview. I should be dead she adds. I cannot change something that happened to me already. But I can change the meaning, HealthDay reports.

Phuc lives now in Toronto, Canada since the early 1990's when she sought political asylum. The author of the photograph, Nick Ut, won a Pulitzer Prize for it.