By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-03-13 20:02:10 | Updated at 2025-03-14 09:40:29
14 hours ago
A golfer has been blinded after an off-target shot by a fellow player saw a ball smash into his face and shatter his eye.
Builder Leigh Powell, 44, of the village of Lydbrook, Gloucestershire, was enjoying a day on the green at his local golf club when he was suddenly struck by the wayward ball in June last year.
Mr Powell, a keen golfer of more than 20 years, was knocked out for more than five minutes - leaving other players thinking he was dead.
His eye was so swollen that doctors had to wait a whopping five months, until November, before they could see inside it properly to operate. He was using eye drops 50 times a day and sleeping sitting up for months, just to get the fluid to drain.
There was 'blood everywhere' when he was first hit, the 44-year-old said: 'It was excruciating, I've never known pain like that, I was just screaming and screaming, even the morphine didn't really touch it.'
Blinded by the horrifying accident, he has been unable to work as a builder anymore, meaning he has lost £32,000 in earnings. He is having to sell his home, with the £360 per month in universal credit he now gets not even close to covering his expenses.
He said: 'I feel let down: I've always paid my taxes and I feel the system should support you at times like this, just until you can get things sorted out.
'It's really tough not working, having nothing to do, it really destroys your mental health.'
Builder Leigh Powell (pictured before the incident), 44, of the village of Lydbrook, Gloucestershire, was enjoying a day on the green at his local golf club when he was suddenly struck by the wayward ball in June last year
Mr Powell (pictured after being hit), a keen golfer of more than 20 years, was knocked out for more than five minutes - leaving other players thinking he was dead
His eye (pictured) was so swollen that doctors had to wait a whopping five months, until November, before they could see inside it properly to operate
At a charity day at his local golf club on June 14 last year, Mr Powell was on the tenth hole when another player hit a shot from about 20 yards away which went off at a right angle straight into his eye.
He said: 'It was horrible, it hit me plumb in the eye. When I came round I was in shock, there was blood everywhere.
'I could feel a huge pressure in my eye, I knew it was shattered.
'When the shock and adrenaline wore off it was excruciating, I've never known pain like that, I was just screaming and screaming, even the morphine didn't really touch it.
'It's a very rare accident, I've researched it and there aren't documented examples of this.'
An ambulance was called - but it would have taken five hours to reach him, he said, so as he sat with ice packs on his eye, he phoned his parents, who drove him to Gloucester Royal Hospital.
With Mr Powell's eye shattered from the lens to the retina, doctors told him the life-changing news he would never see from his right eye again and sent him on to hospital in Cheltenham, where he has been treated since.
The pressure in his eye was recorded as being more than 100mmHg - when normal levels are around 21mmHg.
He was using eye drops 50 times a day and sleeping sitting up for months, just to get the fluid to drain
Of the moment he was hit, he said: 'It was excruciating, I've never known pain like that, I was just screaming and screaming'
At a charity day at his local golf club on June 14 last year, Mr Powell was on the tenth hole when another player hit a shot from about 20 yards away which went off at a right angle straight into his eye. Pictured: Mr Powell at a golfing range
With his eye shattered from the lens to the retina, doctors told him the life-changing news he would never see from his right eye again
Blinded by the horrifying accident, he has not been able to work as a builder anymore, meaning he has lost £32,000 in earnings. Pictured: Mr Powell before the accident
The pressure in his eye was recorded as being more than 100mmHg - when normal levels are around 21mmHg
There was 'blood everywhere' when he was first hit, the 44-year-old said
He is having to sell his home, with the £360 per month in universal credit he now gets not even close to covering his expenses. Pictured: Mr Powell at a golfing range
The 44-year-old, who had full vision in both eyes before, can now only see daylight in his right eye (pictured)
Mr Powell had an operation in mid-November to fit a prosthetic lens but still needs another to reduce the size of his pupil, which has been left fully dilated (pictured)
He had to put eye-drops in 50 times a day to help get the swelling down and he had to sleep sitting up for months to help the fluid drain from his eye, waking every hour to put drops in.
The 44-year-old, who had full vision in both eyes before, can now only see daylight in his right eye. His left eye tires easily from compensating for it and he struggles to perceive depth, he said.
Mr Powell had an operation in mid-November to fit a prosthetic lens but still needs another to reduce the size of his pupil, which has been left fully dilated.
He is having a special contact lens made that will hopefully give him some vision back.
But currently, the builder is unable to work and is losing up to £4,000 per month. He will have to look for a different job, he said.
Mr Powell said: 'It's really hard. I'm having to sell my home because of this.
'I get £360 a month in universal credit which just doesn't cover my expenses.'
