9-year-old left blind in one eye after freak cycling accident

A young boy has lost the sight in one eye after a freak accident that saw his face land on his handlebar.

Ciaran Donnelly, nine. was on his bike when he swerved to avoid his sister and fell off, hitting the bars.

He suffered an injury to his eye and was taken to hospital, where he will now face operations to try to reattach the muscles behind his eye.

The boy, from Inverclyde, is unlikely to recover his sight.

His mother Leona, 38, told the Herald Scotland: “He fell off his bike and the handle bar went into his eye. It was horrible.

“We first thought that he had a black eye but it’s turned out to be far worse. It’s very unlikely that he will get his vision back.

“There’s not much we can do.”

His father Kevin, 41, said: “It was an innocuous accident but it’s created all sorts of problems, including fractured bones in his eye socket.

“It swelled up so much and because of the pressure and optic nerve was starved of oxygen and muscle detached from the eye.

“Now he’s lost sight in his left eye. He can’t see anything, it’s pitch black.”