A woman who used her bare hands to rip out her own eyeballs has “no regrets” after being fired from her job.
Kaylee Muthart became blind during a meth-induced psychotic episode where she thought the horrific self-mutaliation would save the world and bring her closer to God.
The former straight-A student was 20 when she crushed her eyeballs in February 2018 – just days before she was due to go to rehab.
She had started abusing drugs after mixing with the wrong crowd but since her grisly act, she has shown remarkable positivity, crediting the disturbing incident with forcing her to quit meth and get clean.
Her positive outlook, which resulted in her mastering braille and technologies, also led her to working at a restaurant in Florida where she washed dishes. But she now says she has been“fired” in December for feeding a cat.
She told her Facebook followers how she was feeding a mother cat with eight kittens outside the The Rose Villa restaurant. But the property manager allegedly ordered this to be stopped.
Kaylee, 27, who is originally from South Carolina, claimed she asked if the cat could be weaned off the food instead, but was sacked for continuing to provide meals. At the time, the restaurant did not respond to these claims.
Now, in an exclusive interview with the Mirror, Kaylee spoke of having no regrets, despite not yet finding other employment.
“I am feeling positive after the loss of my last job,” she told us. “Being fired never feels good, but I could walk away, knowing that I did what I believed in my heart was right.
“I could not in good conscience leave every night, knowing that there was a kitty right there waiting to be fed so I gave it my meal that I would get for my shift – and ordered it especially for the kitty.”
Describing that it was “hard on her” to then be stripped of the stability as a result, she reiterated: “I would not have been able to walk away from that knowing that I didn’t do what I was convinced in my heart to do.
“So as a result, I am positive every day of my life because I am peaceful, knowing that I live without regretting my choice.”
She said she was not “overly reliant” on the role, explaining how her boyfriend, Alex George, is “extremely hard working” and has always made sure she is looked after.
However, she said she enjoyed being self-efficient, and added: “Thanks to the taxpayers in our country, I am able to pay the majority of my own bills by myself and the job was helping me meet other financial needs and I have gotten behind on some of those – but all of my necessities such as rent, power, food and water are being met.”
Kaylee hopes to be offered a new job in May after working with a recruiter that provides rehabilitation programs for blind or visually impaired people. She is also finishing her high school diploma from Penn Foster and she wants to go on and study at university.
And Kaylee, who is fiercely dedicated to Christianity, said she was determined to achieve big things in life, despite no longer being able to see.
She said: “It is hard to answer that with one big hope, but my hopes for the future are big. I will be starting a non-profit to help all of God’s creations (to aid with addiction recovery and mental health challenges).
“I will be motivational speaking at as many places as possible to share my story. I hope to one day play every instrument known to man but in the near future I will be continuing to learn guitar and piano and starting the drums.”
Her optimism has remained strong despite setbacks like losing her job, and she has routinely said that she would rather be blind than dependent on drugs .
The day her life changed forever involved her believing she had to meet someone at the church in her meth-warped state. On her way there, a friend she was staying with drove by and shouted: “I locked up the house. Do you have the other key?”
She perceived this to mean she had to make a “sacrifice”. She said: “I pushed my thumb, pointer, and middle finger into each eye. I gripped each eyeball, twisted, and pulled until each eye popped out of the socket – it felt like a massive struggle, the hardest thing I ever had to do.”
A pastor eventually found her after Kaylee was heard screaming “I want to see the light”.
She was taken to hospital where seven people pinned her down before doctors removed what remained of her eyes to save her optic nerves and to stop infection.
Kaylee is now permanently blind and uses prosthetic eyes, and rather than trying to garner sympathy, she made clear at the start of the interview that she has been feeling “phenominal”.
She said this was thanks to her religion – saying she now experiences the “ultimate joy” of being with God every single day.
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