Christy Carlson Romano says it’s a “miracle” that she isn’t blind.
The former Disney star was shot in the face over the weekend while she was shooting clay pigeons with her husband for his birthday. She was hit in five places, including directly underneath her eye.
“It is a miracle,” she wrote on her Instagram on Tuesday while showing a video of her doctor explaining how close she came to going blind.
She added, “The shot was less than 1mm from permanently blinding me. @drseanpaul also explained that the shot missed all the vital parts of my eye by moving around them like a marble hugging the curve of a bowl (it’s an anomaly).”
She said that the lead fragment has to remain in her face because removing it could leave her blind.
The 40-year-old said that doctors expect she will fully recover, although she may never be able to get an MRI again with the lead fragment in her face.
Another shot fragment lodged in her skull will also remain in place because doctors said it will expedite her healing process, she explained.
“He and other doctors will continue to monitor me for the coming weeks and I will keep everyone posted,” she added. ” I am very sore and tired, but I am resting and healing up well. I appreciate all of your support and the support of my husband, children, and family.”
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On Saturday, the “Even Stevens” actress shared pictures of her injury, explaining that she had gone clay pigeon shooting with her husband, Brendan Rooney, for his birthday when “another party” that was with them “unsafely fired in the wrong direction and shot me in the face.”
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“With everything that happened, all I can think about is how grateful I am to be alive,” she wrote. “I love my daughters, husband, family, and friends so much. I saw my life flash before my eyes and I’m telling you, hug the people around you every chance you can. Life can change in an instant.”
Romano had a bruise underneath the eye where she was shot, and her eye was partially red with a “subconjunctival hemorrhage,” but there’s nothing inside the eye, Dr. Sean Paul of Austin Face & Body said.
Paul said it missed her eye and was stuck in the bone further back.
Clay pigeon shooting is an outdoor sport in which upside-down circular disks made of limestone and pitch used as targets are propelled into the air by machines called traps. Shooters use shotguns with each shot projecting hundreds of small lead balls to hit the clay pigeons.
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The sport is typically not considered dangerous as long as safety measures are followed.
Fox News Digital’s Ashley Hume contributed to this report.
