Kaylee Muthart has been doing her best to adjust back to everyday norms three months after she permanently blinded herself in a fit of meth-induced psychosis.
The 20-year-old was sent home in March and has stayed off meth ever since the laced product caused her to gouge out her eyes using only her hands outside a church in Anderson, South Carolina, on February 6.
‘I actually feel like a person. I feel like myself, and I don’t feel like I’m chasing something,’ she told People.
Kaylee Muthart, 20, was sent home in March and has stayed off meth ever since the February 6 incident in Anderson, South Carolina
The woman gouged out her eyes in front of a church during a meth-induced psychotic break
‘It, actually, feels really nice. The way it worked out is the way God had it work out, that’s just the way it is… but I’d rather for it to have happened than to still be stuck in that world.’
Muthart underwent emergency surgery to clean out her orbital sockets and spent weeks in Greenville Memorial Hospital before going to a psychiatric facility.
‘I actually feel like a person. I feel like myself, and I don’t feel like I’m chasing something,’ she said
She recently underwent mobility and orientation training to help readjust to life but was honest that all the positive thinking does yield to dark moments of sadness and frustration.
‘I’m a very optimistic person, and I went in with an optimistic outlook — but at some points, you’re going to fall down,’ she asserted. ‘That’s just life.’
She now uses audio descriptors to watch shows on Netflix. Muthart has also spent time practicing the piano and guitar, learning how to play songs ‘Clocks’ and ‘The Scientist’ from Coldplay.
But she does sleep most of the day away, waking in the late afternoon.
‘My dreams are colorful, and it’s like being able to see again,’ she said. ‘They can be strange, and switch scenes really quickly. But it’s comforting because it’s colorful. I like sleeping a lot because it’s like I can see.’
Muthart shared that most have been sympathetic when encountering her and have shared their own stories with battling drug addiction with the woman.
Muthart has spent time practicing the piano and guitar, learning how to play songs ‘Clocks’ and ‘The Scientist’ from Coldplay
Her family launched a GoFundMe to help offset the financial burden of some of the cost, raking in more than $50k of the $75k goal
She said: ‘People that are actually on drugs will understand that drugs are capable of doing the things that they did to me. Sharing my story might make them realize that, or it might encourage them to stop.’
Muthart will undergo a three-week rehabilitation course with the South Carolina Commission of the Blind in hopes of improving her orientation and mobility.
She is then slated to have her first of two surgeries on July 3rd that will work to prepare her orbital cavities to receive prosthetic eyes.
Muthart will undergo a three-week rehabilitation course with the South Carolina Commission of the Blind in hopes of improving her orientation and mobility
Her family launched a GoFundMe to help offset the financial burden of some of the cost, raking in more than $50k of the $75k goal.
Muthart’s Supplemental Security Income was denied so the family must wait until her Social Security benefits start in September.
She hopes to eventually go to college, however, and study marine biology.