Doctors say she was lucky.
Lucky she wasn’t dead. Lucky she wasn’t permanently blind. Lucky she wore her glasses while cooking.
Iris Avila had put herself through medical school but didn’t imagine this being where she’d end up.
“I remember opening my eyes for the first time in the hospital,” Iris recalls. “(It) was the scariest thing I had to go through.”
In 2019, shortly after celebrating their anniversary, Iris’ abusive husband threw boiling oil on her face, sealing her eyes shut. She was bedridden for three weeks to recover and doctors had to use a paperclip to help open her eyes.
But she was lucky.
“I was locked up for ten years and was finally free again,” said Iris, describing her time with her former husband. “I remember opening up my eyes for the first time and feeling like a whole new person.”
Today Iris is back at a hospital, but under much different circumstances. She’s now a financial counselor at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, GA.
A new job, a new city, a new life.
“I’m so glad I moved out here to Atlanta. … All of my bad memories were in California.”
In this city, no one knows her and, more importantly, no one knows her past.
“I don’t have to move backwards, I can just move forward in my life.”
Iris admits that having to find herself is something she is still working on. She misses her freckles, which were burned off from the assault, but has embraced her beauty without them. She is learning to love herself and find new hobbies – like traveling and being a foodie.
“I never thought that I would actually do the things that I’m able to do now,” said Iris. “I may have started late, but it is better late than never.”