‘His body and my neck’

Metro

By Nika Shakhnazarova

A punk rock fan who was left partially paralyzed after a rocker dove on stage and landed on top of her during a show has spoken from her hospital bed about the ordeal.

Bird Piché, 24, suffered a “catastrophic spinal cord injury” during the Trophy Eyes concert at Mohawk Place in Buffalo, New York on April 30.

Footage posted to the Australian post-punk rock band’s Reddit page showed the band’s frontman, John Floreani, jumping off the stage and into the crowd in the 230-person venue.

The show was immediately interrupted when Piché was rushed to the hospital for “emergency trauma surgery.”

Floreani got into the ambulance with Piché.

“When you hear about these types of injuries, they’re obviously very serious, so I didn’t expect recovery,” Piche told NBC News.

“It was like his body and my neck. It was a crowdsurfing thing.

Piché said she has regained use of her arms and some functions in her legs, but is unable to move her hands and toes at the moment.

“We were afraid she wouldn’t make it,” her worried mother, Amy Leigh Flaminio, told the outlet.

Piché said she was going to rehab after the interview and said doctors believed she would make a full recovery.

“Nothing is certain, obviously, but they predict that everything will be completely restored,” she added.

The devoted fan said she had been following the band since 2016 and admitted stage diving was not uncommon at punk rock shows.

“It’s pretty typical of these kinds of shows,” she said. “I didn’t really know what to expect, but I certainly didn’t expect to be in the hospital after the concert.”

“I have a long way to go, but I’m very optimistic right now,” Piché added.

After the ordeal, the group said the incident “shaken us all to our core.”

“Out of respect for the family, we have refrained from speaking publicly about this until now, but with the blessing of their family, we can now say how heartbroken we are to be here now,” wrote the group. “Our friend Bird is now recovering, but he still has a long way to go. »

The group says it remains in “close contact” with Piché’s family and “seeks to help Bird through this difficult time.”

Trophy Eyes donated $5,000 on its crowdfunding page.