Woman who had to get new forehead after car crash has one spare in case it ever needs replacing
Grainne Kelly got into a horrific road accident in 2016, and she has reflected on the situation eight years on.
On that fateful day, her boyfriend was driving across her native Ireland when a then 22-year-old Grainne was exhausted and put her feet on the dashboard of to be more comfortable.
However, she was unaware that her life would change forever following this drive, as a horrific car crash saw her knees smash into her forehead at such an immense force that all the bones in her face would shatter.
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Eight years on from the shock incident, she spoke exclusively to LADbible Group about the night that changed her life forever.
She joked: "I hate to say it but I think I'm probably known for having my feet on the dashboard and having no forehead."
Grainne began to run back through the night: "When I was 22, my boyfriend at the time and myself were driving from Galway to Leish, from where we were living to where I'm from.
"And along the journey somewhere, I decided foolishly to put my feet up on the dashboard. I thought I'd be more comfortable.
"I think, I don't remember. So yes, we hit a patch of black ice - the Jeep crashed into a wall," she said.
Her boyfriend at the time was left with a broken nose, but as her feet were on the airbag, which came up at 120mph, her legs were pushed into her face, suddenly.
"I had a CSF leak, so spinal fluid was leaking out through my nose, lost teeth, had brain seizures after it. My parents were told they couldn't give them a 50-50 chance.
"I remember my mother telling me they asked and the doctors just didn't know at the time."
After several surgeries where they tried to reconstruct her face, with the first being 10.5 hours long, she was okay for the most part.
"I like to say it was a little bit like Humpty Dumpty," she joked.
But five months later, her forehead had an infection in it, so they removed the bone flap in her forehead, which was a fist sized bump in her head.
However, she has since had a man-made forehead put in: "I have a beautiful Italian ceramic forehead. You know what, it is quite funny when you think about it.
"Like you have to laugh at parts of it. You just have to. I mean, to think I'm sitting here talking to you with a forehead that was made in Italy. Like, it's still so strange for me. But yeah, my neurosurgeon, I've had two neurosurgeons, they're both amazing, amazing men," she went on to say.
"It's in the hospital that I had my main hospital, so Bowman, up in Dublin. They have my spare foreheads, just in case. I don't know why somebody would need a spare forehead, but I have one," she admitted.
The medical professionals assured her that she probably wouldn't need it, due to how durable her current forehead is, but it's there if she needs it.
Grainne also summed up how she feels about her forehead and looks now, after everything:
"When I look at my face, I see the differences and it's just a constant reminder.
"I mean, I can live with that. You know what I mean? I'm alive. I'm happy.
"But it is a constant thing. I don't think it's something I'll ever get over. And I think coming to terms with that was huge. Like, I'm OK," she concluded.
Joshua Nair