Woman is partially paralyzed after Singer’s stage dive and remembers accident

A 24-year-old woman who was left partially paralyzed after a singer fell into the crowd during his band’s performance speaks out about the incident.

Bird Piché was attending Australian band Trophy Eyes’ concert at Mohawk Place in Buffalo, New York, on April 30 when she suffered a “catastrophic spinal cord injury,” according to the newspaper Independent.

“When you hear about injuries like this, they are obviously very serious, so I didn’t expect a recovery,” Piché told NBC News from her hospital bed on May 13.

Revealing that she never blacked out in that moment, she continued as Trophy Eyes frontman John Floreani jumped backwards into the audience: “It was his body and my neck, so to speak. It was a crowd surfing thing.”

“It’s pretty typical at shows like this,” Piché — who has been a fan of the band since 2016 — told the outlet. “I didn’t really know what to expect, but I definitely wasn’t expecting to be in the hospital after the concert.”

“I still have a long way to go, but right now I’m very optimistic,” she added.

Piché also told the outlet that she has regained her “gross motor skills,” including basic movements of her arms and legs, but she also hopes to regain her “fine motor skills.”

“Well, this is involuntary, I’ve been kicking my legs a lot lately. I can’t control it,” she said. “My arms are almost completely there, apart from my hand dexterity. My fingers don’t have full mobility.”

She also revealed that medical specialists predicted she would make a “full recovery from everything,” although “nothing is certain.”

According to NBC News, Piché, as well as her mother and stepfather, declined to comment when asked if they would pursue legal action, saying their primary focus was on their recovery. “We were even afraid that she wouldn’t make it,” Piché’s mother, Amy Leigh Flaminio, told the outlet.

A GoFundMe page set up for Piché has so far raised over $71,000 of the $100,000 goal to support her recovery.

“She has a long recovery ahead of her and will need all the help she can get,” the page’s description reads. “It is too early to assess her prognosis, but after discharge from hospital she will need to go to a rehabilitation facility. She obviously won’t be able to work during this time.”

Meanwhile, Mohawk Place, where the incident occurred, revealed in a statement to PEOPLE that the venue has a “very strict ban on stage diving or crowd surfing.”

“Signs are posted throughout the venue and a note was included in emails for this show with the show promoter and the band themselves,” the statement said. “Our policy and practiced procedure is a complete show stoppage for any stage diving.” set up for this incident.

PEOPLE also contacted Trophy Eyes management and GoFundMe organizers for comment but did not immediately respond.

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However, the band released a statement about the incident on . “We decided to end the show immediately as John (Floreani, frontman) accompanied her to the hospital with her family.”

They also directed fans to the GoFundMe page.