An aspiring Russian lawyer who was known as the 'most beautiful student' in her class has revealed how she was left unrecognisable after a devastating car crash.
Maria Lebedeva was blinded and suffered brain damaged after her 'angry' boyfriend jumped a red light and smashed their car into another vehicle in Novosibirsk, southern Russia.
The 23-year-old, who had hoped to become a lawyer after graduating, is in constant agony following the crash on August 2016.
She said she wanted to highlight her dramatic change in a bid to find doctors who can help her, and raise money for medical costs.
Now she has set herself a 'crazy' target - to become a flight attendant. And she has also taken up singing as a form of therapy at a group for the blind.
When her former friends see her now, they say she is unrecognisable.
She wore a turquoise dress for her prom after she graduated with honours - and hoped to become a lawyer. But now she can remember hardly anything from a two year period.
'2016 and 2015 have entirely gone,' said Maria, known to her friends as Masha.
The crash left her with brain damage as well as spinal and pelvic injuries. She was in a coma for ten days.
The accident came after a blazing row with her boyfriend of four years, Andrey, because she was half an hour late for a ride home.
'I was late and when I came he was angry. When I got in the car, he was yelling at me.'
At the height of the row, police found he had jumped red lights in his BMW 530 and struck a SUV at 50 mph. Andrey and a friend were saved by airbags.
Maria was the only one injured, and at first he came to see her in hospital, but later her parents were forced to sue him for £12,700 medical costs.
Now she says: 'He wasn't there for me when I needed his support. He told me: "Do you think I am the only one guilty of this accident? We are both guilty".
'I was so angry when I heard that. It was as if he didn't feel guilty at all. He didn't regret or apologise, it is disgusting to remember….'
The crash has left her 'without my old looks but much more too'.
She said friends have deserted her now she has put on weight and lost her old sparkle.
'You know, I loved travelling, not staying at home. I was into dancing and running. It hurt me so much when I disappeared for everyone.
'Now I realise I didn't have many friends, I had many acquaintances.'
Loss of her eyesight is especially hard.
'I miss my independence the most,' she said. 'I feel blind when I walk with a stick.
'I can hear how people pity me, specially old ladies. I feel defective. I can hear better than I could before the accident - and sometimes it really annoys me, the things I hear.'
She refuses to be crushed and said: 'I want to be a flight attendant.'
She is currently undergoing 'experimental' stem cell treatment - but it is expensive.
So far, many attempts to retrieve her sight, and reduce her pain, have failed. Her family are looking for new medical approaches to help her recover.
Maria Lebedeva was blinded and suffered brain damaged after her 'angry' boyfriend jumped a red light and smashed their car into another vehicle in Novosibirsk, southern Russia.
The 23-year-old, who had hoped to become a lawyer after graduating, is in constant agony following the crash on August 2016.
She said she wanted to highlight her dramatic change in a bid to find doctors who can help her, and raise money for medical costs.
Now she has set herself a 'crazy' target - to become a flight attendant. And she has also taken up singing as a form of therapy at a group for the blind.
When her former friends see her now, they say she is unrecognisable.
She wore a turquoise dress for her prom after she graduated with honours - and hoped to become a lawyer. But now she can remember hardly anything from a two year period.
'2016 and 2015 have entirely gone,' said Maria, known to her friends as Masha.
The crash left her with brain damage as well as spinal and pelvic injuries. She was in a coma for ten days.
The accident came after a blazing row with her boyfriend of four years, Andrey, because she was half an hour late for a ride home.
'I was late and when I came he was angry. When I got in the car, he was yelling at me.'
At the height of the row, police found he had jumped red lights in his BMW 530 and struck a SUV at 50 mph. Andrey and a friend were saved by airbags.
Maria was the only one injured, and at first he came to see her in hospital, but later her parents were forced to sue him for £12,700 medical costs.
Now she says: 'He wasn't there for me when I needed his support. He told me: "Do you think I am the only one guilty of this accident? We are both guilty".
'I was so angry when I heard that. It was as if he didn't feel guilty at all. He didn't regret or apologise, it is disgusting to remember….'
The crash has left her 'without my old looks but much more too'.
She said friends have deserted her now she has put on weight and lost her old sparkle.
'You know, I loved travelling, not staying at home. I was into dancing and running. It hurt me so much when I disappeared for everyone.
'Now I realise I didn't have many friends, I had many acquaintances.'
Loss of her eyesight is especially hard.
'I miss my independence the most,' she said. 'I feel blind when I walk with a stick.
'I can hear how people pity me, specially old ladies. I feel defective. I can hear better than I could before the accident - and sometimes it really annoys me, the things I hear.'
She refuses to be crushed and said: 'I want to be a flight attendant.'
She is currently undergoing 'experimental' stem cell treatment - but it is expensive.
So far, many attempts to retrieve her sight, and reduce her pain, have failed. Her family are looking for new medical approaches to help her recover.
Music: "Universal" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Source: Siberian Times , Daily Mail
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