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Dec 26, 2007 11:17 pm US/Central

Child Sticks Screwdriver Into Head, Survives

Reporting
Jason DeRusha
FARMINGTON, Minn. (WCCO) ― A 2-year-old Farmington, Minn. girl stabbed herself in the eye socket with a screwdriver and somehow escaped relatively unharmed.

Teagan Gislason returned home on Christmas Eve after nearly a week at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Teagan's father, Neil Gislason, said she hurt herself near the end of a church service at St. Paul's Lutheran in Cannon Falls, Minn.

"God was watching over her very hard," said Neil Gislason. "I think He saved her for a reason, and I can't wait to see what that is."

Gislason was with his three daughters at the church. He said Teagan was getting restless, and went into a room where children have adult supervision during the church service. Teagan somehow found a screwdriver, and a fellow church member saw it sticking out of her left eye socket.

 " I ran over to her, and she was standing up and walking around and not crying," said Neil Gislason. "It was very heart wrenching to see that. Cause it was deep. And I knew it, but I didn't want to believe it. And I was hoping and hoping and praying and praying."

 An X-ray shows the screwdriver penetrated Teagan's eye socket, five centimeters into her brain. Doctors removed it after four hours, with virtually no bleeding.

 " I would have complete breakdowns where I couldn't even keep myself standing," said Katie Gislason, Teagan's mother.  She was at work when the accident happened, and found out when she got a phone call.

 "I just could not believe this. This is the phone call that no parent wants to get," she said.

 Neil Gislason said his best guess is that Teagan found the screwdriver, and tripped with it in her hand. No one actually saw the accident, so no one is quite sure what happened.

"All I kept thinking was I don't care about scars, I don't care about loss of movement, I don't care about loss of vision, I don't care about her speech. I just want her alive," said Katie Gislason.

One week later, Teagan is home with her family, acting like a normal 2-year-old. Her vision appears to be fine, and the only remaining mark from the incident is a scar on her eyelid.

"She's our Christmas miracle," said Katie Gislason.

The family is administering antibiotics to make sure the eye doesn't become infected, and Teagan will still be regularly checked out by doctors to make sure she isn't experiencing any problems with her vision.

"They have a very good prognosis that she will probably have no effects from this. There's nothing wrong with her," said Neil Gislason.

There is a fund to help pay for Teagan's medical bills:
Teagan Gislason Fund
C/O Provincial Bank
20280 Iberia Ave
Lakeville, MN 55044

 

(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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