Mum loses eyesight in freak backyard firework accident: 'So quickly'
A mum has been left blinded in one eye and with a permanently-dilated pupil after a freak accident saw a firework shoot into the crowd at a party, hitting her in the eye.
US woman Autumn Kabzinski was at a celebration at a friend's house when a lit firework tipped over and shot towards the crowd – hitting her left eye before exploding on her hip.
The mum-of-two was rushed to the emergency where they peeled back her eyelid to flush out any remaining firework particles and treated her for third-degree burns sustained on her body.
The 26-year-old was initially told her vision would return but received the devastating news weeks later that it sadly wouldn't due to having permanently damaged her iris and retina.
The baking business owner used dilating eye drops for two and a half months to prevent pressure increasing in her eye. Three months on, she still bears scars from the life-changing accident and visits the doctor monthly to receive eye injections to shrink her blood vessels which now grow abnormally large.
Woman wants other to be aware of firework dangers
After the "traumatic" experience, Ms Kabzinski is keen to raise awareness of the dangers that fireworks can pose and to be vigilant around them – in a bid to prevent anyone else suffering such injuries.
Autumn Kabzinski, who lives in the US state of Indiana, said her damaged eye now appears different with a larger pupil.
"[It's] not extremely bigger but you can definitely see a difference when you look at it even still now being off the dilated drops - that's just how it's going to be permanently.
She says the unlucky accident has put her off attending any firework displays again in the future.
"Freak accidents can happen so I don't enjoy them enough to even want to risk that again," she said.
During the night of the accident, the fireworks were positioned in a field and Ms Kabzinski was standing at least 15 metres away when they were set off.
"We were all gathered around lighting off fireworks that night and I actually wasn't even near the fireworks or close, I wasn't lighting them off.
"I was just in the crowd in the wrong place at the wrong time," she recalled.
"They were lighting off mortar fireworks multiple at a time, so when the first one went off it shook the second tube that was already lit so it tipped over and started shooting into the crowd.
"The firework shot out and hit me in the eye and it dropped down and exploded on my hip.
"It happened so quickly, it was scary and pretty traumatic."
Ms Kabzinski said her shorts were even on fire as she rushed into the house to wash her face.
Others in the crowd had minor burns from the accident but Ms Kabzinski suffered the worst injuries and had to be taken to hospital.
"They did a CT scan because it had swelled up so bad that they thought the orbital bone underneath my eye was broken, but thank God it wasn't.
"It was just the impact that hit me so hard it caused a lot of trauma in the eye.
"It was actually a long process after it happened to really find out the severity of the injury," she said.
She says she is now permanently blind in one eye but has peripheral vision, so can still see things outside of her direct line of sight.
"I was being told the whole time that my vision was going to come back, so I was looking forward to that.
"It did get a little bit better but I guess that was more just the blood clearing so I kind of got excited at that point.
"When I got sent to the specialist they told me that my vision won't improve any further and I'm not going to get it back.
"That really hit me hard."
The mum says she has had to adapt and often thinks about that fateful night.
"We did not expect any of this to happen that night.
"I would just say think twice about what you're doing and where you're lighting them [fireworks] off," she said.
"Make sure they're on a stable platform. Once thing we should have done differently was secure the mortars on a platform, they shouldn't be able to tip over.
"I wouldn't light multiple fireworks at a time. So just be slow, take your time."
- Kennedy News
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