A 24-year-old woman just gave a health update after being partially paralyzed by a punk rock performer.
Bird Piché was in the audience on April 30 when the Australian band, Trophy Eyes, took the stage at Mohawk Place in Buffalo, New York. The young woman suffered a “catastrophic spinal cord injury” after a band member jumped off the stage and landed in the crowd shortly after they began playing.
Piché spoke about what happened. “When you hear about these types of injuries, they’re obviously very serious, so I didn’t expect to have any recovery,” Piché told NBC News from her hospital bed on Monday. “It was, like, his body and my neck,” she added. “It was a crowd-surfing thing.”
“It’s pretty typical at these kinds of shows,” Piché said. “I didn’t really know what to expect, but I definitely didn’t expect to be in a hospital after the concert. I have a long road ahead, but I’m very optimistic right now,” she added.
“Nothing is certain, obviously, but they are predicting l will have full recovery of everything.”
Mohawk Place said in a statement to People Magazine that the venue has a strict no stage diving and no crowd surfing policy.
A facility rep said, “There are signs posted everywhere in the venue and notice was included in the emails for this show with the show’s promoter and the band themselves. Our policy and practiced procedure is a full show stop for any stage diving which was put into place for this incident.”
A GoFundMe page, which was set up by a family friend, also provided details about Piché’s current condition.
“She has a long recovery ahead and will need all the help she can get. It is still too early to know what her prognosis is but after leaving the hospital she will need to go to a rehab facility. She will obviously not be able to work during this time,” the fundraiser says.
“Bird recently began running and in the featured photo she had placed second in her age group! We will update with details according to her comfort level. The funds will be used for medical bills and anything she may need to function in life because of the accident.”
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As of Tuesday morning, donations were more than $71,000, with a goal of $100,000. The band Trophy Eyes donated $5,000.
The band wrote in a statement just after the incident that they were “truly heartbroken” over what happened.
“We elected to immediately shut down the show as [band member] John accompanied them to the hospital with their family,” the social media post added, directing followers to Piché’s GoFundMe page.