FIREWORK HORROR COST AMBER AN EYE
A WOMAN who lost an eye in a firework accident is urging people not to be tempted to run their own bonfire night displays as public events are called off in the pandemic.
Amber Lewis from Cardiff had her left eye surgically removed and the socket rebuilt in three hours of surgery after the accident which happened as she lit a firework in her garden during a family party at the end of January.
As the firework exploded multiple times in Amber’s face, it tore apart her eye and burned her face.
Now she wants to show the dangers of fireworks by sharing pictures of her horrific injuries.
Desperate family and friends rushed to help but when she got to the bathroom where she was horrified to see a black hole where the left eye had been.
“It was so painful and people were bringing wet towels to my burned face.
“I remember opening my eye in the bathroom downstairs and looking and it was black. Where my eyeball was it was completely black. My face was numb and I was in shock. “
Rushed to the University Hospital of Wales and dosed with painkillers, the 46-year-old social media consultant said it wasn’t until the next morning the full impact of losing her eye hit her.
“When they told me my eye would have to be removed I was in shock
“I remember being wheeled down to surgery screaming because it’s just not something you think is going to happen, having your eye removed.”
As someone who had loved fireworks Amber said she had bought them for a small party with family and friends, including her daughter and five-week old grandson, and had not been drinking when she lit the firework.
She has taken legal advice so cannot go into details about the firework or where she bought it, but said it was a licensed seller.
“I followed the instructions lighting it. When I lit it it exploded in my face. It just went off straightaway, multiple times, in my face. As well as losing my eye I have scars and a piece of firework is still in my face.”
The injury was so bad Amber said a friend who witnessed the accident, who has epilepsy but had not had a seizure for 20 years, had a fit, adding to the trauma.
The accident on January 31 happened as coronavirus was spreading which led to a seven-month delay in Amber getting a false eye. In the meantime she was fitted with a temporary ball to keep the socket in shape, but that tore in the area around her eye where muscle and skin had already been damaged.
“It was so painful for weeks. It got infected. I was on medication and was a shell of myself for weeks. I was so scared I was going to lose my independence.
“They put a ball in my eye and had to have it changed because it started ripping. Every time I caught sight of myself I started to cry. I looked like Terminator.”
Determined to get back to normal because she was so scared at the thought of losing her usual independence Amber returned to work, from home, as a social media consultant two months later. She has even been able to start driving again because she has good sight in the remaining eye.
But the injury left her so traumatised that Amber and her partner Richard Blakeney moved house from the Heath area of Cardiff where it happened to St Mellons. She has also had counselling for post-traumatic stress.
“Every time I looked at myself when I was out shopping I cried. I looked like Terminator.”
Because of the pandemic there was a seven-month delay in making and having a false eye fitted but Amber got her false eye at Rookwood Hospital three weeks ago.
“It looks like an indented marble and looks like glassy plastic. I leave it in all the time and don’t have to take it out. Without it in my eye is all flat and you can’t see my eye lashes. It was made to match the colour of my other eye.”
Amber said she loves how realistic it looks but is still left deeply traumatised and wants to warn others of the dangers of fireworks.
As November 5 approaches she said she can’t bear the sound of banging and even had to stop her car a few weeks ago when her shopping fell over loudly.
“I don’t know how I’m going to feel on Bonfire Night.
“I realise how your life can change in seconds. Fireworks should not be sold to the public. People aren’t aware how dangerous they can be. I wasn’t.
“I never knew the dangers. I followed the instructions but fireworks are so dangerous.
“It could have been worse. I could have died or lost both eyes. I would urge people not to have fireworks in their gardens and not to buy them. I am proof how dangerous they can be.”
When they told me my eye would have to be removed I was in shock Amber Lewis