NEEMA NYANGASI remembers the ricochet, the discomfort, the 13 hours in A&E, the six weeks of uncertainty, the fear and the diagnosis.
But she cannot stop smiling as she plots her comeback.
The DLR Waves midfielder suffered a freak injury in April that has resulted in her permanently losing 70 per cent of the sight in her left eye.
Instinctively, everyone reacts with horror.
But Nyangasi, 22, knew she was going to be OK when the doctor told her she could play again.
Nyangasi told SunSport: “The hardest part was not knowing if I could ever exercise again, could I play football?
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“Once I was told the diagnosis, that I could still drive, could still exercise, could try and play football, it was, ‘Right, OK, let’s do this’.”
The diagnosis was six weeks on from the April incident that left her fearing her life would change forever.
She said: “We were doing a drill at the end of training and it was a fluke accident.
“The ball just ricocheted up and hit my eyeball. It didn’t hit any facial bones.
“Even the doctor was saying it was a weird incident, a one-in-a-million case that it would affect my eyesight.”
She immediately knew something was wrong.
The UCD student said: “There was a discomfort and it swelled up. I was saying, ‘I can’t see’.
“The girls were all trying to calm me down. But they packed up my stuff and I went to A&E in Vincent’s, where I was for 13 hours.”
Two team-mates sat with her for ten hours until Nyangasi insisted they go home, with the initial prognosis being complete rest.
She said: “I was on bed rest, no movement, no exercise, no work, no reading, no writing for six weeks until the doctors could be certain what was wrong.
“That was also during my exams. It was a hard time, it is very easy to go into a dark place when you’re stuck, not able to move, not knowing.
“The uncertainty was the hardest part. You’re thinking, ‘Is it a detached retina? Will it heal by itself? What will I do if I’m visually impaired for the rest of my life?’”
After six weeks, she received the news.
Nyangasi said: “The way the ball hit it, it crushed all the retinal cells at the back of my eyeball.
“And once they did, they can’t regenerate. So about 70 per cent of my vision is gone in my left eye.
“I can’t see — it is a dark grey — but the 30 per cent sight is my peripheral vision.
“So that could help with football.”
She was given the all-clear to drive but everyday life is not without its challenges.
The midfielder said: “I’m told it will take six months as the eye still tries to send signals as before.
“I can do everything, it might take me longer to get used to it.”
And that includes getting back playing.
She said: “I was told I could go back but there was no guarantee that I’d be as sharp or be able to kick a football.
“I was falling over wash baskets and stuff like that.
“The day after I was told I could go back, I went to a match and the girls were so supportive.
“I don’t think they know how even little things like the tap on the shoulder to say it would be OK helped me.”
WIDER SUPPORT
And boss Laura Heffernan has also been a great support.
Nyangasi said: “Laura and the whole club have been brilliant. We sat down and laid out a plan, which was not to rush it.
“It was no ballwork for two months but I was doing passing drills after two weeks.
“It wasn’t easy, the first day I was back running, I felt fine until I turned and was dizzy.
“Our physio Emma Mulholland has been amazing, working out drills to help.
“It’s been good, the more I do things, the less dizzy I get and then I improve.
“Last Tuesday, I was back in my first full-contact training session. It was scary at first, but a big moment as well.”
She does analysis at games and will be in Belfield today for the Treaty United match.
A return to action is her target but there is no time frame.
She laughed: “I don’t know, you don’t know what will happen. But to nearly lose it makes you appreciate it even more.”
