Liz Brown Russel Del Gesso and his fiancée; Del Gesso in the hospitalLiz Brown was watching her fiancé, Russel Del Gesso, play ice hockey when the unimaginable happened Del Gesso got hit in the face with a hockey puck, and his eye “basically exploded”They then spent the next two days in different hospitals with doctors working to save Del Gesso’s eyeLiz Brown was watching her fiancé, Russel Del Gesso, play ice hockey like he always does — but neither of them were prepared for what happened next.Ice hockey is how she and her fiancé met, and he is heavily involved in the hockey community where they live in Richland, Wash. With her kids and her parents in the crowd, Brown and her family were cheering on Del Gesso when the unimaginable happened. Someone on the other team took a shot at him, and the puck tipped right under his visor and hit him in the eye, squarely smacking him right in the eyeball.Brown knew something was off immediately as she watched Del Gesso grab his face, and the game stopped. There was blood coming from his face.Brown’s parents took her kids back with them, and she went with Del Gesso to the dressing room to help him change out of his hockey gear and assess the damage. Once they got into the car, they drove directly to the emergency room. Since their hospital doesn’t have an ophthalmology department, they were waiting with the other patients in the emergency room and were told it would be five hours before they saw anyone. Once Brown told the staff she thought Del Gesso could lose his eye, the staff moved quickly to see him.Liz Brown Russel Del Gesso and his fiancée”One of the nurses said ‘time is tissue’ when it comes to an eyeball injury,” Brown shares. “They said everything brain-wise looked good, but the eyeball ruptured. There’s no ophthalmology department anywhere closer than either Spokane or Seattle. Spokane is about two and a half hours away. Seattle is three and a half hours away. Spokane wouldn’t take it; they said it’s too severe for us. We were transferred to Seattle, and they wanted to LifeFlight him because, at this point, they had told us the first 24 hours are really critical.”Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.Due to a storm in the area, LifeFlight couldn’t get flight path clearance, and ambulances would take a long time to transport him since they would have to go over a mountain pass.Related: Toddler’s Love of Waffle House Marks a Milestone His Doctors Thought Would Never Happen (Exclusive)”We can either wait for an ambulance and wait out the storm, or you can take him. So I said, ‘Well, I’m going to take him. I’m not going to sit here and wait,’ ” Brown recalls. “Somebody’s just told me ‘time is tissue.’ ” Brown’s dad joined her at the emergency room, and they started at 11 p.m. on the three-and-a-half-hour-long journey, fueled by energy drinks.”We got to Seattle, checked in there, and got seen by the amazing ophthalmologist. She did tests to determine the severity of the damage, said it’s ruptured, and confirmed nothing’s wrong with the brain,” Brown said. They were then transferred to the trauma surgery wing and had to wait to see the retina fellow.”They took him into surgery, and they told me it was going to be about three to four hours. My dad and I just sat and waited, and they came out in about two hours [later], and the doctor said that he was able to reshape the eye and put the eyeball back together, which was absolutely shocking.”Liz Brown Del Gesso in the hospitalThe doctors could save his eye, but the first surgery was all about damage control. The purpose was to clean it up, put it back together, and ensure it was safe from infection. Del Gesso and Brown would have to return in a week to determine if they could do anything about his vision.At this point, Del Gesso had gone over 20 hours without eating, and when Brown asked what he wanted, he said tacos. So Brown and her father found the best tacos in Seattle and ate them with Del Gesso after he came out of surgery.The latest update is that Del Gesso’s damaged eye has zero vision and a detached retina. The doctor told them there’s probably about a 50% chance of reattaching the retina and starting to get vision back. They’re in a delicate spot right now because his cornea has to be healed enough for them to go back in surgically.In a quiet moment, Brown sat with Del Gesso and put her feet on his bed. Del Gesso began rubbing her feet. Brown captured this moment and later shared it on TikTok, where the video went viral, amassing 10.7 million views. “My fiancé took a hockey puck to the eye and his eye ball basically exploded…” the text overlay on the video read. This small moment of caring for others despite his own situation is just the type of person Del Gesso is, “an amazing man,” Brown explains.Related: Her Chronic Illness Flared Up While on a Date. Her Vulnerable Video Showing the Moment Went Viral (Exclusive)”He’s very tough and strong, and he’s definitely got this mindset that, ‘It is what it is. It happened. I can’t just sit around and mope and be sad about it. I’m going to do everything I can to make it better.’ He even said, ‘It’s just another big challenge to overcome,’ ” Brown shares. “It will be a long road. It’ll be tough, but he’s strong, and he’ll make life happen regardless. He’s not a person to let something like that get him down.”Del Gesso is the vice president of the Referees Association for ice hockey, as well as a co-owner of the business that runs the adult Hockey League in the area and a commissioner for the Parks and Rec division of Kennewick. He shows up for everyone in his community, and now they get to show up for him. The moment has also sparked some local players to be a bit more safe when on the rink.”Hundreds of people immediately asked him if he was doing okay. The very next day, there were adult hockey games, and six of the people who typically don’t wear a cage or a full mask showed up with cages and full masks,” she said.” The local hockey shop sold 25 full cages the very next day.”While the road to recovery is long and uncertain for Del Gesso, Brown shares that they have been relying on strangers, friends and family for guidance and support throughout the process. In sharing Del Gesso’s story online, Brown has received messages from people who have gone through similar injuries and are offering their advice.”The beauty of it is the number of people who have reached out with words of encouragement, support, advice and stories. There’s three or four people who I communicate with regularly who were strangers a week ago — one whose husband actually has almost the exact same injury from skiing,” Brown says. “They’ve all been giving me really good advice about how to help keep him comfortable and sharing articles and different doctors, and that’s been amazing.”Read the original article on People
