A star of the West End has been left blind in one eye following a random attack in his van at traffic lights and has explained his long recovery journey
A star of the West End has been left blind in one eye after a horror attack while waiting at traffic lights.
Mike Holoway, 63, needed stitches in his right eye ball after a thug smashed a metal object through his van window in East London. The incident has left Mike requiring another three operations over a nine month period in a bid to save his eye sight.
Mike, who previously starred as the main role in Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat for four years, thinks his attack was an attempted robbery.
The attack happened on December 18 with Mike calling the weeks that followed a “roller coaster”. He explained on Instagram how his eye is stable but he says he has “many month ahead” for it to heal.
Speaking to the Sun, Mike described the ordeal, saying a man “smashed his first through the driver’s side window”. He said he was hit straight in his face and was knocked across to his passenger seat.
“I had to have metallic fragments pulled out of my face,” he said. “You think you know how you can react in these situations. But I saw stars. I didn’t know what the hell was going on.”
It’s thought the attacker was holding a knuckle-duster or small weighted metal object when he targeted Mike in his vehicle. A GoFundMe page, which was set up by Mike’s wife, claims the traffic starting up again spooked the attacker who then sped off in his own van.
She wrote: “In a matter of seconds, Mike’s life was turned upside down and over this past month, between several trips to Moorfields for appointments and check ups, the gravity of the situation has started to sink in and at times it is overwhelming, made all the more frustrating finding out that within 3 weeks of this happening, the Met Police closed the GBH case due to there being no cctv in the area so there is no way of tracking the attacker – it is deeply unfair that justice won’t be served.”
Mike praised his “angel of the day”, a witness called Bobby, who made sure he got to hospital following the incident. Mike was force to stay in A&E for over seven hours as he underwent a number of scans and tests. After being transferred to an eye hospital for surgery, it’s not yet known how much of his sight he will eventually regain.
“I’ve got to have a lens replacement. I’ve got to get a cornea donor. I’ve got to have a cornea replacement,” he explained. “My eye at the moment is being held together by six stitches. I’m on painkillers all day, every day for the first five weeks of it happening. It’s a bit of a blur. My wife Emma has been incredible.”
He celebrated his birthday at the weekend and appeared in good spirits despite the ordeal. He stood beside birthday balloons with his injury clearly noticeable as his eye was heavily bandaged. He also gave an update to thank people for their support and help on his GoFundMepage. He added in the Instagram upload: “Things are improving well for me.”
After thanking the Moorfields Eye Hospital once again, he continued to tell his supporters: “Thank you, I love you all.”
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