Share and Follow
On a seemingly idyllic February morning in 2021, passionate snowboarder Shelby Perry set off for the mountain, anticipating another day of thrilling descents through fresh snow.
As Perry and her friends navigated the powder-covered slopes, indulging in a beloved pastime since her youth, the day felt perfect.
However, everything changed in an instant.
“I didn’t even realize what had happened,” Perry recounted. “I hadn’t crashed. I was still moving forward, then I felt blood running down my face, and everything went dark.”
Now 35 and residing in San Diego, California, Perry, who once taught yoga, vividly recalls how a simple run down the mountain morphed into a pivotal medical crisis.
Perry, who grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, had spent most of her life on skis or a snowboard.
So when she and two friends set off for one final run on February 28, she had no reason to feel afraid.
They had just left the chairlift and were slowly traversing the mountain when she caught the edge of her board and brushed into nearby trees.
Shelby Perry had to have her eye removed after she endured a gruesome snowboarding accident in February 2021
Perry, who grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, had spent most of her life on skis or a snowboard
What happened next was both sudden and surreal.
The magnetic lenses of her snowboarding goggles flew off on impact, leaving her eye exposed for a split second – just long enough for a thin tree branch to pierce directly into it.
She was rushed to the hospital, where doctors discovered a devastating injury: a puncture wound that stretched all the way to the back orbital bone of her eye.
Surgeons worked to try to save it, inserting more than 30 stitches deep inside the eye. It was the first in what would become a series of complex operations.
But the damage was too severe. Within days, Perry required a second surgery to place stents in both her upper and lower tear ducts, which had also been injured in the accident.
Despite those efforts, her eye continued to leak and deteriorate.
Almost exactly two months after the incident, doctors delivered the news that the eye could not be saved and needed to be removed.
On April 29, 2021, Perry underwent another surgery to remove the damaged eye.
Perry had just left the chairlift and were slowly traversing the mountain rather than speeding downhill when she caught the edge of her board and brushed into nearby trees
The magnetic lenses of her snowboarding goggles flew off on impact, and a thin tree branch pierced directly into her eye
She was rushed to hospital, where doctors discovered a devastating injury: a puncture wound that stretched all the way to the back orbital bone of her eye
‘At the time, it felt like the decision was made for me,’ she said. ‘Looking back, that was a blessing. I didn’t have to carry the weight of choosing.’
The physical trauma was only part of the battle that followed. Emotionally, her loss was just as profound.
In the months after surgery, Perry faced the slow and often frustrating process of learning to live with vision in only one eye.
Her brain and body needed time to adjust, leaving her exhausted, dizzy and struggling with depth perception. Everyday tasks such as driving required patience and retraining.
‘The hardest part was accepting that I was missing a part of myself I was born with,’ she said. ‘I realized life can change suddenly and severely without warning.’
During recovery, Perry searched online for information, support and practical tools to help her navigate life after eye loss.
But she found very little, from limited emotional resources to uncomfortable, clinical-looking eye patches that did not reflect the reality of modern survivors.
The absence of support left her feeling isolated at a time she needed connection most.
That lead to her sharing her own experience online – first as a way to process trauma, and then to reach others living through similar journeys.
Almost exactly two months after the incident, doctors delivered the news that the eye could not be saved and needed to be removed
Today, Perry lives with a prosthetic eye and continues to speak openly about the realities of healing and rebuilding confidence after sudden loss
What started as a personal story soon grew into a global support network and community of people affected by visual impairment, all searching for reassurance, understanding and belonging. They shared stories of survival, recovery and resilience – it connected people who might otherwise have faced eye loss alone.
Drawing on her own experience of struggling to find comfortable, high-quality eye coverings after surgery, Perry later began developing adhesive eye patches designed specifically for people navigating eye loss and prosthetics.
Years after the accident that changed her life, the project finally launched as EYEHESIVE – marking a turning point not just in her recovery, but in how she chose to move forward.
Today, Perry lives with a prosthetic eye and continues to speak openly about the realities of healing and rebuilding confidence after sudden loss.
Followers on her Instagram account have shared countless messages of support, from stories of their own recovery to observations about her journey.
What once felt like the end of everything has become the beginning of a very different future for Perry.
‘That moment could have been the end of my story,’ she said. ‘Instead, it became the start of a life with deeper purpose.’