Teun Martens from Cuijk is only 26 years old, but has to live with only one eye for the rest of his life. Two years ago he was injured in a fireworks accident. His right eye could no longer be saved. Ringing in the new year with a bang has not been an option for him since. Now Teun also wants to make others aware of the risks of fireworks.
Two years ago, Teun was with some friends on New Year’s Eve when things went wrong. They set off flares, but one of those arrows exploded in Teun’s hand. Pieces of those fireworks ended up in his eye. “At first I thought I had lost a finger, but I could still move it. Only then did I notice that something was wrong with my eye,” he tells Omroep West.
Teun spent the rest of the evening in the emergency room. First his eye was cleaned, followed by surgery. Only after a few hours was Teun told that he would never be able to see with his right eye again. “I never expected something like this to happen to me,” he says.
“It cost me a year and a half of my life.”
The consequences were great. In addition to the 35 hospital visits and 4 operations he underwent that year, Teun was unable to do anything for the first few months. Don’t exercise, don’t bend over, don’t move. “My life was turned upside down. I just sat quietly on the couch.”
Now, two years later, he is doing a little better. Teun has an artificial eye and can do most things again. Mentally he is also back to his old self. “It cost me a year and a half of my life, but I am now very optimistic. I have picked myself up and can do almost everything again. It’s just difficult to estimate depth. I especially notice that when playing football.”
“Put on those glasses and light fireworks with a fuse.”
Teun thinks it is important that others become more aware of the consequences of fireworks. He is therefore one of the faces of the fireworks campaign ‘Until it hits you’. The campaign kicked off on Wednesday. Teun was then allowed to tell his story at a secondary school in Voorburg (South Holland). With the emphatic message: if he had worn fireworks glasses in 2022, he would still have both his eyes.
“I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. You still have two healthy eyes and the choice: take precautions or act tough,” Teun says to the class. “You have to make that choice yourself, but I would say: choose the sensible option. It is only one day a year. Put on fireworks glasses and light the fireworks with a fuse.”