Smile that says blinded teacher will see again 

The Ukrainian teacher who was blinded in a Russian missile attack has had her sight partially restored after an intricate three-hour operation.

Olena Kurylo was told she might never be able to see again following the assault on her home in the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, just hours into the invasion.

But after The Mail on Sunday helped her escape the besieged city, skilled surgeons last week managed to restore a significant portion of her vision.

‘I felt a joy that I haven’t felt since the war started,’ the 52-year-old said after hearing the remarkable results of the operation.

‘All I could think at that moment was that I would be able to live a normal life and be useful.’

Medics had told her she risked losing her right eye – and potentially even her life – without the surgery. Astonishingly, after a gruelling three-and-a-half-hour operation, doctors restored almost a third of her eye’s sight, and hope it may improve further.

Harrowing photographs showing Olena with her injured eye bandaged and her face bloodied were beamed around the world last month. She was injured when a missile exploded outside her home, sending shards of glass from shattered windows into her face.

Mail on Sunday reporters helped her flee to the Polish city of Katowice, where she could get the vital medical attention.

She braved the surgery at the Medical University of Silesia on Tuesday with only local anaesthetic. ‘As the surgeon was taking glass from under my eyelid, I heard the pieces drop into the metal plate below, she said. ‘I wanted to cry but I am Ukrainian and I am strong in spirit. Throughout the surgery, I kept thinking that I have become a symbol of hope for many people, so I have no right to be weak and that gave me strength.’

Olena Kurylo sits on her bed in a ward of the Ophthalmology Clinic at the University Clinical Centre Katowice as she awaits her surgery to save her right eye after it was severely injured during Russian shelling on her home in Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine

The operation involved replacing the natural lens in her eye with an artificial one, draining fluid that had built up behind her eye, pinning down her detached retina and filling the eye with silicone oil. Few patients recover any of their sight following the procedure, but Olena said: ‘Even before they pumped in the oil, I started to see shapes and the hands of the surgeon. I started to cry with happiness and said, ‘I can see.’ ‘

It wasn’t until the following day that consultant Dr Michal Bogocz confirmed that some of her sight had been permanently restored. ‘This is pretty amazing,’ he told her. ‘No one expected that you would see 30 per cent. 

The surgeon’s work is a masterpiece.’ Olena now faces weeks of recovery and eventually a second operation to remove the silicone. ‘I believe I will get most of my vision back,’ she said. ‘I will be forever grateful to everyone who has helped me.’

After being discharged from hospital clutching her daughter Katya’s hand, she broke news of the successful surgery to her husband Mykola, 54, who is still hiding near Kharkiv

After being discharged from hospital clutching her daughter Katya’s hand, she broke news of the successful surgery to her husband Mykola, 54, who is still hiding near Kharkiv.

‘It’s hard for me to know that he is in danger and that I am here,’ said Olena, who is half-Russian. ‘And it’s hard for him that he can’t be by my side. But I want to show people that you shouldn’t give up.

‘Putin can destroy material things, but he can’t destroy our spirit.’

Additional reporting: Svetlana Skabo