[Ant397]

Hey everyone, i'd like to start by saying that no matter what life throws at you, it will allways get better.

As some of you know, I am Anthony who started Speed Religion amongst other things and I have allways had a facination with cars, speed and adenaline. I have been racing this season in a BMW E36 M3 Evo that I have prepared myself for the BMW Kumho Championship.

Having spent the last 2 months stripping the car once more and spending all the hours I could on making the car more competative, with extra light weight panels, more power and driveability, we headed to Croft this weekend for what was to be a fantastic weekends racing. We set off on Friday morning with the car loaded on the trailer and the X5 packed full of everything else we could possibly need. We got to Croft at around 12:30 on Friday 24th July and started to assemble our area for the weekend.

The sun was shining and the weather was sweet and I set about lying the ground mat down and then started to fix it down to the floor. I had just purchased a used Hilti commercial nail gun for the task and prep'd a 72mm fixing with a 'black' cartridge (the most powerful) into the gun to hold the ground sheet and then the rest of the stays in place for our enclosure.

This is where everything went teribly wrong...

As soon as I activated the front guard and pressed the trigger, I hit the floor with an almighty bang to my left eye.

I instantly knew something had gone drastically wrong with the nail gun and from the amount of blood, pain and lack of vision, it was obvious my left eye had taken a serious beating...

I called out to Angela my wife to get an ambulance and she wondered why as I hadnt made any noise to say something was wrong... I showed her my eye and she sat me down and proceeded to dial 999, the opperator asked what had happended and as soon as Angela mentioned that I had been hit in the eye with a 6" nail fired from a nail gun, we where told a helicopter was on its way and its all a little wague from there really.

1 Minute after incident, at the scene:



The ground ambulance arrived within 15 minutes and the helicopter a few minutes later. At this point, all I could do is go over what had happened and wonder 'Why me?'

Here is a pic I took whilst sat in the ambulance waiting for the helicopter:


At this point, the nail was nowhere to be seen, so it was suspected to be inside my head. I was rushed to the fantastic John Cook hospital in Middlesborough where I was made as comfortable as possible and a CT scan carried out.

This is where things started to get better for me.

The CT confirmed that niether the nail nor any other foreign object was inside my head. Yes I had a puncture wound and massive impact damage to the eye, but from what they could see, the eye was intact and not obliterated as I had thought. You see, its only with this further info, that I can start to see what actually happened in those milli seconds of the impact which I will come to in a bit...

I was opperated on that night at around 8pm to re-attach my eye lid that had received a full thickness detachment underneath and to clean out and investigate further.

Just before going in for the opperation:



I came around from the general anaesthetic to be greeted by my wife Angela, my Mum and Dad that had jumped straight on a plane from Portugal when they heard and my good friend Si. needless to say, it was great to see them all again, even if it was with only 1 eye.

Just after the opperation:



All the doctors and nurses at this point kept telling me how lucky I was, but I just thought they where just trying to make me feel better, as I was totally blind in my left eye, but things could have been so much worse that it doesnt bear thinking about really...

I stayed in over night and on Saturday morning the dressing was removed and I was told to try and open my left eye. Now that the eye lid was re-attached, it opened straight away, but I couldn't see anything.

Saturday Morning:



I was evaluated once more by a consultant on Saturday morning using instruments to look inside my eye, but not much could be seen as the eye is filled with blood and not letting any light in. They also did an ultra sound scan too. After that, she turned out all the lights, covered my right eye and shone a light towards me, which I still couldn't see. She then proceeded to move the light around and I caught my first glimpse of light with my left eye, all the way over on the left hand side, after some more movement, I also detected something right at the bottom too! Nothing tangible, but its something!

I have had some more tests and days have passed now, so we know more and the details are comming together...

At the time, the nail didnt hit me square on, it was on a angle, so it impacted and punctured above and around 3mm to the left of my eye and then the shank hit my eye. At this precise point, I was blinking, so when the shank hit, it crushed the eye lid between the shank and my eye, thus splitting the eye lid, but this miraculous timing meant that the eye lid cushened the blow to the eye itself!

Its still very early days, but I am more possitive everyday!

We know that my pupil is none responsive, so that will likely need a fixed implant, my lense is cloudy, so that has caterax, and because I am starting to see things, the retina appears to be intact, but it is all fixable to some degree! My only worry so far is that my central vision that you use to read and judge distances is still totally blind and this is the part that the crucial Makula is responsible for... the only part that cant be opperated on, but we will see how it goes.

Sunday was the worst day for me, the swelling was the worst and I stuggled to open my eye and didnt see much progression.

Sunday:



Yesterday (Monday) was better, the swelling had reduced, so the eye was a little open naturaly and I gained a little more perifferal vision!

Monday



Today (Tuesday) is better again! I have yet more perifferal vision (nothing usfull just yet, but is a step in the right direction) and the swelling has reduced alot more!

Tuesday:



Wednesday 29th July 09, The swelling is almost gone, black eye is startin to go yellow, more pain today for some reason, but a little more perifferal vision back, poss around 1-2% back at the moment. Nothing useable, but its a start!



Thursday 30th July: Best day so far really, its hard to say if the vision has improved, but I got my toothpaste on my toothbrush first time today! I drove for the first time last night since the accident with my wife Angela in the car, very strange indeed, but managed around 10 miles with no probs and no cause for concern...



Friday 31st July: Rested for the full day and generaly tried to do as little as possible, feeling far better for it by the night time.



Sunday 2nd July: The day started off as a good one, but suddenly I was experiencing immense pain in my eye and by 3pm it was almost unbearable. I had taken all the painkillers I could, but it felt like my eye was going to explode. An emmergency vist to the eye hospital once more and it was confirmed that the pressure in my eye had risen to a massive 36! Not too sure what units that is in, but throughout this whole period, the pressure has been between 10 and 14 at each appointment. Strangly our consultant was happy for this change as it shows the flushing mechanism of the eye had kicked back in, so things looked on the up apparantly... Doc prescribed 2 more courses of eye drops, (thats 4 now) 4 times a day. By 8pm the eye felt far better and also lost a bit of its yellow/orange colour.



Tuesday 4th July: I was out an about running errends all day yesterday and also had another appointment with our consultant. It was quite a long visit as we had an ultra sound and discussion afterwards, that seemed possitive. The doc can see more of the inside of the eye now as the hemorrage has reduced some more. The optic nerve looked intact, the retina appeared to be in place (a little bit still cant be seen) and he could just start to make out the Macular (this is the most important and sensitive part that deals with the central small area of your vision that you use to focuss on things, read, judge distances etc) in my eye, its that small central part that is still totally blind (worryingly) the rest I can just make out shadows and changes in lights, nothing useable, but with corrective surgery can be made better. We just need the Macular to start working again really.


The large broken pupil:



What a Difference A Week Makes:




So everyday is getting better and I am very very impressed with the speed your body/eye can repair and I look forward to each morning.


Ill keep this updated to show how fast the human body can heal!


ant.

[jjbirch]

wow what a story sorry to hear this m8, i guess you can spend lots of time here now m8 lol and still make a living lol, hope you get better and your eye makes a recovery all the best

[willhollin]

My God Ant!!!!!!

All the best for your recovery.

You look remarkably relaxed in that first photo!!!

I take it the safety googles you had on did nothing to protect you?

[booforty]

Oh my god Ant, really sorry to hear your news

However, its positive to hear that you are already improving and getting better by the day. My fingers are crossed for you and I wish you a full and speedy recovery

Take care

[Ant397]

Originally Posted by willhollin

I take it the safety googles you had on did nothing to protect you?

Well erm, they could have if I was using any...

I know, I Know.

But there is nothing I can say really, I didnt have any, I didnt think of using any at the time, so its not like I'm sat here going, 'If only i'd put them on'... plus it was the first 'test' shot to set the force rate...

The docs say they wouldnt have helped much anyway, as the normal ones are rated at around 50m/s (just less than 200mph) this projectile with the black cartridge left the muzzle at between 400-500mph.

[rogerxp]

Well, my bacon & egg butty is now resting a little uneasy in my stomach - thanks!!!

How can someone have so much bad luck and good luck at the same time if you see what I mean.

Here's hoping for a quick and full recovery mate.

No wonder you didn't return my call from last week

[misterS3]

Fek!!! Hope you make a speedy 100% recovery!

[Ant397]

Originally Posted by booforty

its positive to hear that you are already improving and getting better by the day.

Take care

Absolutley right mate, take it a day at a time and i'll be back before you know it!

I broke my back in 3 places in 2002 from a motorbike accident and recovered pretty well, so I'm confident!

ant.

[Ant397]

Originally Posted by rogerxp

Well, my bacon & egg butty is now resting a little uneasy in my stomach - thanks!!!

How can someone have so much bad luck and good luck at the same time if you see what I mean.

Here's hoping for a quick and full recovery mate.

No wonder you didn't return my call from last week

No worries mate, I've still got your tyres here at my house, fancy popping round this week for them?

ant.

[E92Fan]

Holy crap Ant - that's terrible luck! I am so glad you seem to be in good spirits and the injury is not as severe as it could have been. I wish you all the very best in your recovery. Please keep us informed of your progress....

[Ant397]

Originally Posted by E92Fan

Holy crap Ant - that's terrible luck! I am so glad you seem to be in good spirits and the injury is not as severe as it could have been. I wish you all the very best in your recovery. Please keep us informed of your progress....

I'll update the first post on a daily basis mate, would be good to show how quick recovery can be!

[xenon]

Yes, good luck Ant.

[rogerxp]

Originally Posted by Ant397

No worries mate, I've still got your tyres here at my house, fancy popping round this week for them?

ant.

There's no rush from me fella (unless your wife wants them out). You're probably best putting your feet up and I'll pop round next week or something. Probably borrow my bus.partners motor as you can see my current steed isn't too practical!!!

[doughboy]

Well that's at least 2 motor racing drivers hit in the left side of the head by high speed metal objects this weekend!!!

Speedy recovery mate!

[Jude1]

Lucky escape.

Hope you make a full recovery,

Jules.

[Ant397]

Originally Posted by rogerxp

There's no rush from me fella (unless your wife wants them out). You're probably best putting your feet up and I'll pop round next week or something. Probably borrow my bus.partners motor as you can see my current steed isn't too practical!!!

I could do with the space in all fairness mate...

[Steve A]

F**king hell ant!!! im glad you came and replaced the air filter on the M6 last week or id be f***ed......

Seriously mate i wish you all the best and a speedy recovery. If you get your full sight back mate your a proper lucky git.

The Ashton Clan.

[rogerxp]

Originally Posted by Ant397

I could do with the space in all fairness mate...

I'll sort it out tomorrow if you're around mate. Do you reckon I could squeeze all four into an A4 (boot/back seats/front seat) for a single trip??

Will give you a buzz.

[Ant397]

Yeah, no probs mate, give me a bell tomorrow.

I'm at the hospital first thing, so anytime after 11ish really Bud.

[Imran@Evolve]

Ouch! Glad its not as bad as it could have been.

Wish you a speedy recovery!

[MEGA]

Wow. What a horrible turn, but you are on the other hand very lucky to be with us - and luckier still that your vision may return to normal. Heres hoping on that front!. God wanted to screw with you it seems, but only so much.

Speedy recovery Ant.

[dxb335d]

Ant, i cannot Believe this...

I am shocked.. But am glad you are not more seriously hurt.. Thats a nasty accident you had...

Your lucky you didnt lose your whole eye.

Get well soon Buddy!