Texas Child Loses Eye After Firework Accident
According to KHOU News, a child lost their eye from a firework accident.
Details of the Firework Accident
The night before the Fourth of July in Royse City, Texas, an eight-year-old girl named Makenna Brown was injured in a firework accident. Makenna was with her entire family at their neighbor’s house when the incident occurred in Rockwall County.
The firework that injured Makenna was designed to shoot up into the air; however, when it was lit it tipped over and flew directly into a crowd of children and their parents. Makenna was directly hit by the firework in her left eye.
According to Makenna’s mother, Tonya Brown, Makenna’s left eye was red and swollen, and blood was pouring out of it. Not only was Makenna’s eye badly damaged, but her eye socket was also fractured. The only option was to remove the entire eye.
Makenna’s mother stated, “life is already kind of tough for her so I just hate that it’s one more thing that will make her different and make her stand out”. In the weeks to come, Makenna is getting fitted for a prosthetic eye. According to her doctors, the prosthetic eye should be in place by the time school starts up again for the Fall; however, as she grows she will be needing new prosthetic eyes.
A friend of the family has created a fundraising page in efforts to help cover the current, as well as the future, medical expenses.
Fireworks Injury Statistics
According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission:
- In 2014, the CPSC received 11 reports of nonoccupational fireworks-related deaths that occurred through 10 separate incidents. Four victims died in house fires that were caused by fireworks and seven victims died from direct impacts of fireworks.
- In 2014, fireworks were estimated to be involved in 10,500 injuries that were treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments throughout the calendar year. This makes a 95% confidence interval, 7,700-13,300.
- During a one month special study period between June 20, 2014 and July 20, 2014, an estimated 7,000 fireworks-related injuries were treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments.
- Children between the ages of 5 and 9 years old had the highest estimated rate of emergency department-treated fireworks-related injuries
- The parts of the body most often injured were hands and fingers, an estimated 36%.
