Nutts Corner special effects wizard battles back from adversity to score dream job

A SPECIAL effects expert from Nutts Corner is heading into 2024 with a spring in his step after being shortlisted for a top award for his work.

Just one year after starting his own company, Ignite SFX, Frankie Waite, just 32, was nominated for a national RTS Award for his special effects work on BBC show World On Fire.

World on Fire is a British war drama television series created by Peter Bowker. Set in the Second World War, the series follows the intertwined lives of ordinary civilians across Europe who are caught up in World War II.

But this is not the first time that Frankie has hit the headlines - 26 years ago, things could have been so much different.

Back in 1997, Frankie was 30,000ft above the Atlantic heading from Belfast for a dream holiday in Disney World when he began suffering a million-to-one reaction to medication.

For five hours his parents could only watch in horror as his skin bubbled up into blisters and his flesh cracked open.

The day before the flight, the family thought they would have to call the trip off after Frankie began to feel unwell.

Medics believed it was glandular fever, and gave him the all-clear to travel after prescribing two types of medicine.

When Frankie fell ill again as the plane took off a doctor on board suggested he take the medicine - but proved to be a terrible mistake.

Mum Brenda said at the time: “The poor man wasn’t to know, but the cocktail of those two drugs was lethal for Frankie.

“Huge sores appeared on his tummy and back,” she said.

“Then his skin started to dissolve. Even his eyelids were disappearing.

“He was in such terrible pain. I tried to cool him down with a wet cloth and even blew on him.

“An ambulance was waiting at Orlando, Florida, when the plane touched down, but his heart stopped before he reached the hospital.

“I went into hysterics, thank God they could revive him.” said Brenda, who lost her first baby boy to a rare eye disease.

Brenda undertook a three-week bedside vigil, while her husband Frank looked after their other children, Jonathan, then eight, and Reema, just one.

“Frankie’s skin had almost completely dissolved,” she said.

“It was red raw and oozing fluid as if he’d been bathed in acid.”

American doctors diagnosed Lyell’s Disease, also known as Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis, caused by the mixture of a powerful anti- biotic and another drug given to control the effect.

“His skin was poisoned and peeled away,” said Brenda.

“He lost his hair and the sight of his left eye. He was bandaged up like an Egyptian mummy. We were afraid he wouldn’t live.”

Frankie was still in hospital when his sixth birthday came around, but finally, three weeks after the rest of the family left, he went home with his mum.

“He still couldn’t open his eyes and all we could do was wait and hope his new skin would grow back without being infected,” said Brenda.

“He was still badly scarred and his hair, eyebrows and eye lashes were gone.”

After the five week ordeal in the USA, there was another five-week recovery period in hospital in Belfast.

Frankie returned to school but was still having regular check-ups a year later.

“He still hasn’t regained the sight of his left eye but we’re so proud of him and the way he’s battled through.” said Brenda.

Frankie’s sight in one eye never returned, but a few years later, he returned to Orlando, where he watched a stunt show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios that led to him seeking out a career in the special effects industry.

He said that he realised what career he wanted to follow in the same city he had spent weeks recovering in hospital.

Speaking about the day his life changed forever, he explained: “The duration of the flight I got progressively worse, and my skin essentially boiled off, my eyelids and everything were melting, all my hair fell out. I spent five weeks in hospital in Orlando, then we got flown back home where I spent another five weeks in hospital.

“I missed school and was always on the back foot after that. All my injuries healed, my skin grew back and my hair grew back a different colour. I was left blind in my left eye.

“We went back to Orlando a few years later and we went to Hollywood Studios and I saw the stunt man show there, and there was lots of fire, explosions, and cars flying over. From that point, I decided I wanted to do something like that.

“Years down the line my brother, who’s also involved in the film industry, was working on Game of Thrones and he got me started with the special effects department as a labourer there eleven years ago.

“From that point, I jumped about and have worked all over the place, I've worked on Peaky Blinders, His Dark Materials, all for other companies and set up my own company last year and we did season two of World On Fire, which was our first project, and now we’ve been nominated for an RTS Award.”

He said that his family had always encouraged him to follow his dreams and that his award nomination can act as inspiration to others.

“I wouldn't be where I am without the support of my family, who always pushed me to be outside the box, and not be afraid of what anyone thinks about how I look. Now I'm coming around to the realisation that I finally feel like I'm accepted.

“To be nominated for a national RTS for work we’ve done on screen is just phenomenal. I’ve got a great support network around me. I’m supported by people within the film industry who don’t see me as anything else other than a special effects supervisor. I’m a big believer in positivity and manifesting things, my goal was to always do what I’m doing now.

“It’s a great thing for not only my company but for the film industry in Northern Ireland. I want to spread to people who may be feeling how I did at one point, that you just have to keep going. Not everybody is as judgemental as you think, your own demons get you most of the time.”

Frankie’s company was pipped to the award by SAS Rogue Heroes, but he has plenty more projects on the go for 2024, including work on murder-mystery Showtrial and Anansi Boys, based on the Neil Gaiman novel.

He added: “We’re really optimistic about the future of the film industry here

“It's all been a bit of a whirlwind of a life so far. I want to put across that no matter what happens to you, if you just keep working and keep at it, people will accept you for who you are. People won’t always judge you based on your appearance.”