The story of a woman who suffered a severe car accident and began living ‘without a forehead’ is shocking internet users.
In 2006, Gráinne Kealy was driving from Galway to Laois in Ireland with her boyfriend when their Jeep slid on ice. At the time, she was only 22 years old and told the site LADBible that the accident itself wasn’t that bad, but they hit a wall.
While her boyfriend only came out with a broken nose, Kealy’s injuries were much more severe. “I probably would have walked away from the accident unscathed if I hadn’t put my feet on the dashboard,” she said.
“So, because my feet were on the dashboard, they were literally resting on top of the airbag, so when the airbag deployed – and an airbag deploys very quickly, at around 193 km/h, it has to deploy to save you.”
“It pushed my knees into my face and broke all the bones in my face. I had a cerebrospinal fluid leak, so the spinal fluid was leaking from my nose, [I] lost teeth, had seizures afterward,” she added.
According to John Hopkins Medicine, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is a clear fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. It provides cushioning for the delicate brain and spinal tissue.
“Reduced cerebrospinal fluid, such as in the case of a leak, requires immediate care from a trained specialist,” experts explained to LADBible.
Kealy’s parents were told she had only a 50% chance of surviving before undergoing surgery that lasted more than 10 hours. She lost the upper part of her skull, which included her forehead, and as if her situation couldn’t get worse, she developed an infection at the site a few months after the procedure.
She had to use scarves to cover her head after realizing her forehead had sunken in, as the skin had no bone to support it. “I lived without a forehead for two years, even saying it, thinking that I lived through it is crazy to me. I don’t know how I made it through,” she said.
Kealy received an Italian ceramic cranial implant and is now fully recovered, but admitted that the accident still left her with many long-term effects, especially because she was so young when it happened.
Now, whenever she can, she warns people about the mistake she made when she was younger. “I see this [feet on the dashboard] so often, and it scares me to think that someone could have to go through something similar to what I went through. I get chills just thinking about it.”
“It’s obvious, but people still do it. And it’s so dangerous. Even if the car is parked, it’s not worth the risk. I promise you,” Kealy concluded.
Photo and video: Instagram @grainne_kealy. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
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