Kim Phuc on Sept. 25, 2015.
It's been 43 years since "napalm girl" Kim Phuc ran screaming through a Vietnamese village, her body burning, and was captured in the center of an award-winning photo. Soon, she may be free of the scars she has carried from that day. "So many years I thought that I have no more scars, no more pain when I'm in heaven. But now – heaven on earth for me!" Phuctold the Associated Press.
In September, she received laser treatment for the scar tissue that covers her left arm, and parts of her neck and back.
Accompanying her was AP photographer Nick Ut, whose 1972 photo of Phuc's pain, after the South Vietnamese mistakenly dropped napalm on civilians, won a Pulitzer Prize.
More severe burn scars typically need six to nine treatment sessions, the Miami Dermatology & Laser Institute's Dr. Jill Waibel, who is treating Phuc, tells PEOPLE.
Phuc should see a "substantial" improvement in her pain and physical movement "within days to weeks after each treatment," as most patients do, Waibel tells PEOPLE via email.
She is a pioneer of this kind of laser treatment, as she explained to PEOPLE in a 2009 story.
"I tell patients it is like boiling water on the stove for tea – you see the steam," Waibel says. "We are literally vaporizing off the scar tissue: out with the bad skin and then new skin heals the scarred areas."
Each treatment usually costs up to $2,000, according to the AP. But the institute is doing it for Phuc for free, a spokesperson tells PEOPLE.
Waibel first learned of Phuc's case after her father-in-law heard Phuc speak at a church a few years ago, she says.
"Kim is a symbol of child victims of war, and hopefully I can give back a little to help ease her suffering and pay it forward," Waibel says.
Kim Phuc, then 9, runs from South Vietnamese forces after napalm was accidentally dropped on her village in 1972
NICK UT / AP
She should have died, Waibel told the AP, as other burn victims of that severity had.
For years, Phuc, who has become a noted humanitarian, performed "painful exercises" to preserve mobility. But she is still restricted.
Scarred nerve endings misfire randomly and her pain is most acute as the seasons change, according to the AP. Even carrying a purse on her left side is too much.
But "in the midst of hatred, bitterness, pain, loss, hopelessness," Phuc relied on her Christian faith, according to the AP.
"No operation, no medication, no doctor can help to heal my heart. The only one is a miracle, [that] God love me," she said. "I just wish one day I am free from pain."
In Miami, Phuc told Waibel her pain was a "10 out of 10," according to the AP. After her first treatment, she gave a fist pump and said, "This was so light, just so easy."
"She has been gracious, brave and strong during our first treatment," Waibel says. "I have the honor of working with many scar patients every day – burn, trauma, acne, surgical. And those that do best are like Kim – those who have a positive attitude and are ready to heal."
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