A punk rock fan who was left partially paralyzed after a rocker stage-dived and landed on her during a show has spoken out from her hospital bed about the ordeal.
Bird Piché, 24, suffered a “catastrophic spinal cord injury” at the Trophy Eyes concert at the Mohawk Place in Buffalo, NY, on April 30.
Footage posted to the Australian post-punk rock band’s Reddit page showed the band’s frontman John Floreani jumping from the stage and into the crowd of the 230-person venue.
The show was immediately stopped as Piché was rushed to the hospital for “emergency trauma surgery.”
Floreani rode in the ambulance with Piché.
“When you hear about these types of injuries, they’re obviously very serious so I didn’t expect to have any recovery,” Piche told NBC News.
“It was like his body, and my neck. It was a crowd-surfing thing.”
Piché said she has regained use of her arms and partial leg function, but is unable to move her hands and toes at this time.
“We were worried she wasn’t going to make it,” her worried mother Amy Leigh Flaminio told the outlet.
Piché said she was going to rehab after the interview, and said medics believe she will make a full recovery.
“Nothing is certain, obviously, but they are predicting l will have full recovery of everything,” she added.
The devoted fan said she’s been following the band since 2016, and admitted the stage-diving is not uncommon at punk rock shows.
“It’s pretty typical at these kinds of shows,” she said. “I didn’t really know what to expect, but I definitely didn’t expect to be in a hospital after the concert.”
“I have a long road ahead, but I’m very optimistic right now,” Piché added.
Following the ordeal, the band said the incident has “shaken us all to our core.”
“Out of respect for the family, we have refrained from speaking about this publicly so far, but with the blessing of their family we are now able to say how truly heartbroken we are to be here now,” the band wrote. “Our friend, Bird, is now in recovery but still has a long road ahead for them.”
The band says they remain in “close contact” with Piché’s family and “look to help Bird navigate this difficult time.”
Trophy Eyes made a $5,000 donation to her crowdfunding page.
