Graphic Burns to ESPN Anchor Hannah Storm Revealed as She Returns to Work Weeks After Grilling Accident

Editor's notes: some images below might be considered graphic. 

NEW YORK (TheBlaze/AP) -- Just three weeks after being seriously burned in a home grilling accident, ESPN anchor and former CBS "Early Show" host Hannah Storm returned to the air on New Year's Day.

Storm suffered second-degree burns on her chest and hands, and first-degree burns to her face and neck. She lost her eyebrows and eyelashes, and roughly half her hair.

On a New Year's Day interview with ABC News, photos of Storm's burns were aired. Here are screenshots of a few:

Storm lost much of her hair, eyebrows and eyelashes in the accident. (Image ABC News screenshot)

She said in an interview with ABC, the burns on her neck revealed shapes where the flames had licked at her. (Image ABC News screenshot)

Storm's hand was one of her most severely burned parts because she used it to whip off her flaming shirt. (Image ABC News screenshot)

Even after what most would consider a short period of recovery, Storm was back at it on Jan. 1 hosting ABC's telecast of the 2013 Rose Parade. Her left hand was bandaged and she said viewers might notice a difference in her hair texture where extensions have been added.

In this photo provided by Hannah Storm, ESPN anchor Hannah Storm, left, poses for a photo with co-host Josh Elliott, anchor for ABC's Good Morning America, on the parade grounds of the Rose Parade on Tuesday. (Photo: AP/Courtesy Hannah Storm)

"I'm a little nervous about things I used to take for granted," she said by phone this weekend from Pasadena, Calif. "Little things like putting on makeup and even turning pages on my script."

The award-winning sportscaster and producer was preparing dinner outside her home in Connecticut on the night of Dec. 11 when she noticed the flame on her propane grill had gone out. She turned off the gas and when she reignited it "there was an explosion and a wall of fire came at me."

"It was like you see in a movie, it happened in a split-second," she said. "A neighbor said he thought a tree had fallen through the roof, it was that loud. It blew the doors off the grill."

With her left hand, she tore off her burning shirt. She tried to use another part of her shirt to extinguish the flames that engulfed her head and chest, while yelling for help. Her 15-year-old daughter, Hannah, called 911 and a computer technician who was working in the house grabbed some ice as Storm tried to cool the burns.

Soon, police and rescue teams arrived at the house. Storm's husband, NBC sportscaster Dan Hicks, also had returned home with another of the couple's three daughters. As her mother was being treated, the younger Hannah calmly said something that, days later, her mom could laugh about.

"OK, Mommy, I'm going to do my homework now," she said.

Storm was taken by ambulance to the Trauma and Burn Center at Westchester Medical Center and was treated for 24 hours.

Watch Storm emotionally recount what happened with the grill that night, calling it a "wall of fire, a huge explosion":

"I didn't see my face until the next day and you wonder how it's going to look," she said. "I was pretty shocked. But my overarching thought was I've covered events with military members who have been through a lot worse than me, and they've come through. I kept thinking, `I can do this. I'm fortunate.'"

Other than going to Christmas Eve Mass, Storm hadn't been outside until her trip to California. ESPN reworked its anchor schedule while she was recovering, and NBC and the Golf Channel rearranged their staffing while Hicks attended to his wife.

Hannah Storm, right, poses for a photo with her family, from left, husband Dan Hicks and daughters Hannah, Ellery and Riley on the parade grounds of the Rose Parade. (Photo: AP/Courtesy Hannah Storm)

Storm hosted her fifth Rose Parade, with some changes. She's left-handed, and taking notes is almost impossible. Dressing and showering are challenges, too.

Storm said that long before her accident, she'd been inspired by Iraq War veteran, actor and "Dancing With the Stars" winner J.R. Martinez, the grand marshal at last year's parade. He was severely burned in a land mine accident while serving overseas.

One attraction of this year's parade that she was eager to see - the Nurses' Float, and she hoped to use that moment on air to thank everyone who had taken care of her.

Storm wants to anchor "SportsCenter" in Bristol, Conn., next Sunday. After that, the Notre Dame alum is ready to go in person to watch the No. 1 Irish play Alabama in the national championship game at Miami. She said the school reached out after hearing about her injuries and had been very supportive.

"More than anything, I feel gratitude," she said. "Something like this really makes you appreciate everything you have, even the chance to wake up on New Year's Day and do your job."