Storm Portman, an Indialantic freshman with dreams of touring the globe as a World Surf League professional, suffered a tragic injury last December, leaving the 14-year-old with a lacerated eye. Doctors did not know if they can save it after undergoing surgical procedures at the Bascom Palmer Eye institute in Miami.
Now, Dr. Gary Ganiban confirms the young teen's vision is improving and remains hopeful she will not lose her eye.
"I told her mom that there was a good chance she'd lose that eye," Ganiban, an ophthalmologist at the Eye Institute for Medicine & Surgery in Melbourne, said (via Florida Today). "In the 17 years that I've been here, I've had three similar accidents where surfers have had the point of their surfboard lacerate or rupture their globe. It's pretty uncommon, but obviously, it can be devastating to a patient."
"She's come a long way since her eye was repaired," he added. "I'm so hopeful now. She actually has improved her vision, and she's probably not going to lose her eye. There's still a lot of healing to do, but the prognosis is much better than the first day I met her."
Online fundraising for Portman's family expenses have generated in excess of $13,000 and Portman herself stopped wearing her plastic eyeshield on Sunday.
"I'm doing a lot better," she said. "I see shadows and I was able to see color [Monday]. Some mornings, I wake up and it has kind of like a toothache pain. A pain resonates in it. And then other times, it itches from the healing."
Portman still has ambitions of being in California this summer competing on the waves.
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