Christy Carlson Romano is recovering after being “shot in the eye” by ”another party” during her husband’s birthday celebration.
The former child star, 40, was shot on Friday, Feb. 7, while shooting clay pigeons in Texas as part of husband Brendan Rooney’s “present” this year, she revealed in an Instagram video the following day.
“So I got shot in the eye. It was not fun,” the Austin-based actress began the video before assuring her followers that she is now “safe.”
Romano then showed where the bullet struck her eye, revealing that a fragment is still stuck in her eye, along with another that is lodged in her forehead. “Unfortunately,” she explained in the caption, the fragment lodged behind her eye “is too risky to remove surgically at this time.”
“Doctors will continue to monitor me,” the actress said, noting in parenthesis that she is able to “see normally at the moment.”
The Disney alum was shot by a “another party” who “unsafely fired in the wrong direction,” she revealed in the caption. “I was hit in 5 places, one was less than an inch from hitting me directly in my right eye.”
Romano also took a moment to thank first responders and medical staff for their help — as well as her husband, who “immediately sprung into action, assessed me, and rushed me to the hospital,” she said.
“I’m very grateful to first responders as a whole. I mean, they’re just the most amazing, superhero people to take care of us at our most desperate times,” she said in the video. She also expressed gratitude for one hospital in particular, St. David’s South Austin Medical Center.
“This is really bad tonight,” the actress concluded the video, motioning toward her eye injury. “Everything’s kinda clearing out, but I get to say I got shot in the face, and lived to tell the tale. Be grateful for every day.”
Romano also expressed how “grateful” she is to have survived the incident.
“With everything that happened, all I can think about is how grateful I am to be alive,” the star wrote. “I love my daughters, husband, family, and friends so much. I saw my life flash before my eyes and I’m telling you, hug the people around you every chance you can. Life can change in an instant. 🙏.”
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Rooney — with whom Romano shares two daughters — shared a sweet message of support for the star in the comments of her video.
“You are the bravest, toughest, most stoic and badass woman I have ever met,” he wrote. “I am so thankful you are alive. I am so thankful you are the mother to our children. I wouldn’t know what to do without you. I love you more than life itself. 🙏.”
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