Girl, seven, loses an eye when 'vape battery' explodes

A seven-year-old girl has lost an eye after a suspected vape battery exploded. 

Ruby Grainger was walking across a field near her home in Fortunestown, Tallaght, Ireland, on October 5 when something exploded from a fire burning nearby and hit her right eye, her mother Ciara Grainger said.

'Next thing I know, she's running back to the house screaming. I couldn't believe it. There was battery acid in her eye,' Ms Grainger told the Irish Independent, adding that blood was pumping down her daughter's face when she arrived back home.

A family member checked the site of the fire after Ruby was hit and reportedly found the remnants of several burnt-out vapes. 

Ms Grainger, 32, said: 'Whether it was a vape or not, I'm still not sure, but something exploded in the fire. It shot right into her face, and she's been in agony ever since. 

'She just collapsed crying, her eye was already swollen, and I knew something was terribly wrong. We rushed her to the hospital straight away.'

The little girl was rushed to a hospital and had emergency eye surgery soon after. Heartbreakingly, her family was told after the surgery - which had a 50 per cent chance of success - that Ruby had lost her eye.

'It was very devastating for Ruby as she is very self conscious because of kids her age bullying her,' Ms Grainger wrote on a fundraising page she set up for her daughter's medical costs. 

'Ruby now has to get a prosthetic eye which is going to be hard to get used to for a 7 year old. Ruby is going to have to experience very big changes in life for a child her age,' the devastated mother said.

She added: 'Ruby will have to change schools because [after] losing her right eye she will have to go to a vision impaired school.

'Ruby will also never be able to go to play like she used to and also has to learn to balance again due to having a blind side.'

Little Ruby, who is a 'bright and positive child', has been having 'nightmares every night' since the incident, her mother said. 

Ms Grainger also said that fires like the one on the day Ruby was hit are lit near her home 'nearly every day', making the estate 'like a war zone sometimes' - but she claims that despite reports to the gardai and the council, nothing has been done.