Tennager Alanna Quinn Idris has revealed how doctors are happy with the way her injured eye is healing as she returned to school this week for the first time since December.
The sixth-year student suffered serious facial injuries in an alleged assault in Ballyfermot in Dublin on December 30, including a ruptured eyeball, broken cheekbone and a shattered tooth.
Read more: Cruel online trolls target teenager Alanna Quinn Idris who was in brutal attack
Speaking for the first time, Alanna, who celebrated turning 18 last weekend, said she is making great progress and returned to school at St Caritas on Monday.
The teen, from Ballyfermot, said: “They [the doctors] said that they are happy with the way my eye is now, it’s stable, the colour is back in the eye and they are happy with how it looks.
“The last doctor’s appointment was very positive.
“It’s not bruised and I can open the eyelid a little bit. It’s very itchy which is a good sign that it’s healing.”
And she said that life is starting to return to normal and added: “I’m in sixth year now. I went back to school this week.
“It was all right, it’s still school,’ she joked.
Speaking of her recent birthday celebrations, Alanna said she couldn’t have got through the last few months without her amazing friends by her side.
She continued: “It was a good night. I had a few friends over at Vela in Liffey Valley and it was good fun.
“It’s been so nice to have friends coming down and checking in on me. It’s made me feel like I haven’t been on my own through it all.
“I want to thank everyone too who has messaged me and who has donated on GoFundMe.
“I couldn’t thank every person but I want to thank them all. Everyone has been so good to me.”
And despite not sitting her Leaving Cert yet, the teen already has plans for the future.
She said: “I’m going to do a PLC in architecture as I want to do that and interior design.
“I’m interested in them both. I hope to do it in Blackrock.
“I’m into decorating and I also love plants as well, which I keep in my room.
“I want to go over to Thailand before I start college to work with the elephants.” Meanwhile, Alanna’s mother Jamie said the teenager has a lot of school work to catch up on but has been given great support.
She added: “She’s doing her Leaving Cert now in June, so we are just trying to get her ready for that as she has missed a lot of school.
“We are trying to organise grinds for her at the moment and the school has been so supportive. They are trying to get her extra help.”
Jamie said despite the extraordinary support from locals and Alanna’s school, the family feels very let down by the council, which offered to move them from the area following the alleged assault.
Jamie said: “We are all very disappointed in the lack of communication from the council in regards to us being moved from Ballyfermot.
“At the start they were so supportive and eager to move us and said it would happen in a matter of weeks or months.
“The last two emails I have sent have gone ignored. We are not hearing a peep from them and Alanna said the other day, ‘Why would they make all these promises and then not follow through or even communicate with us?’ We definitely still want to move out of the area.”
She added that Alanna has been struggling with people staring at her while she is out and about.
Jamie said: “When we are out and about people are literally stopping in their tracks and staring at her. It’s getting to the point where it’s unbearable. When she went to have her nails done she was very upset as there were girls whispering and talking about her.
“I have said that unfortunately that’s the way people are, but it’s very uncomfortable.
“I have been in Liffey Valley with her and I felt for her. They are not looking at me, they are looking at her.
“I don’t think the majority of them mean it, they don’t mean any harm and I’m sure most of them don’t even realise how uncomfortable they are making her feel. They are probably just thinking ‘Oh there’s that girl, look at her eye’. I don’t think it’s intentional but it’s not nice.”
Read more: Two men charged over 'serious assault' on Ballyfermot teenager
Read more: Vigil to take place in Ballyfermot for Alanna Quinn Idris after vicious assault
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