Trophy Eyes Fan Left Paralyzed After Musician’s Stage Dive
Bird Piché is recounting her experience. Two weeks after the 24-year-old endured a “catastrophic spinal cord injury” due to Trophy Eyes frontman John Floreani landing on her while stage-diving at a concert, she shared the terrifying moment.
Describing the incident to NBC News in an interview published on May 13, Piché said, “It was, like, his body and my neck. It was a crowd-surfing thing.”
She remembered how Floreani jumped backward into the crowd during the show in Buffalo, New York on April 30, without losing consciousness. Being a longtime fan of the Australian rock band, Piché was familiar with such rock concert traditions.
“It’s pretty common at these types of shows,” she explained. “I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I definitely didn’t anticipate ending up in the hospital after the concert.”
Her family was in shock as they hurried to the hospital, with her mother Amy Leigh Flaminio expressing to NBC News, “We were concerned she might not survive.” Piché has made progress in regaining use of her arms and some leg function, but her hands and toes remain paralyzed, according to the report.