Last month, a young lady by the name of Kaylee Muthart was found in front of a church, in the midst of a violent episode brought about by crystal meth. The 20-year-old had clawed out her own eyes, fighting off locals trying to help her in her state, and it eventually took a team of deputies to restrain the young woman, and take her to a trauma unit at a hospital.
Later on that day, medical professionals at Greenville Memorial Hospital informed Kaylee's mother, Katy Tompkins, that her daughter was now blind. After an extended stay in hospital which included psychiatric care, Kaylee returned home on March 1, shorn of her sight, but free to see life in a completely new way.
Now the 20-year-old has opened up about the ordeal that permanently changed her life. "It’s the same life, but I’m just learning everything in a new way," she revealed, talking about giving up crystal meth among other drugs. "Life’s more beautiful now, life’s more beautiful than it was being on drugs. It is a horrible world to live in."
Kaylee's horrific act was the culmination of a drug addiction that had spanned several months. It all started when Muthart was given marijuana by one of her coworkers that may have been laced with either cocaine or meth. Muthart says that the high was unlike anything she'd ever experienced, and when the opportunity to try meth again arose a few months later, the 20-year-old gave in.
"I took a video while I was on it, and I had been up three days straight. I eventually got taken home and got sober and watched the videos, and put that person out of my life and stopped using the drug."
Kaylee tried her best to stay off the drug, but loneliness and isolation caused her to relapse, and soon she decided to check into rehab to help her kick the addiction. One fateful day last month, Muthart used meth, experiencing a hallucination that warped her perception of her relationship with God.
"I thought everyone who had died was stuck in their graves, that God was up in Heaven alone, and that I had to sacrifice something important to be able to release everyone in the world to God. It made the world darker, and took everything I believed in and distorted them to make me go down the path to pulling out my eyes."
It was a dark moment in her life, but Kaylee has used this tragedy as a springboard to get her life back on track. She's adapting to blindness by learning echolocation in order to help her navigate her mom's house.
Kaylee is also expected to go back to rehab at some point, but in the meantime, she hopes to raise money for a seeing-eye dog via GoFundMe, and is also serving as a public speaker for the Commission for the Blind. Kaylee hopes that by sharing her story, other young people can avoid the tragedies of drug use.
Having suffered such a huge change only a month ago, it's really encouraging to see how well Kaylee has recovered from losing her eyes. "I’m able to be Kaylee again. I’d rather be blind and be myself than be Kaylee on drugs, and I truly mean that with my heart," the 20-year-old revealed. Let's hope she continues to fight on, and be a positive role model for young drug users all over the country.
