Close Call: 11-Year-Old Gets Fishing Hook Stuck In Eye

Daniel Ruff / Facebook

The pictures included in this story aren’t for the faint of heart.

11-year-old Manning Ruff was fishing near his South Carolina home. It was a normal Thursday, as he fishes at this exact spot almost every day.

Around 3 o’clock, he hooked a bass and began reeling it in. As he was doing so, the hook popped out and onto him.

It stuck him in his left eyelid and cheek.

He didn’t have a pocket knife to cut the fishing line, so Manning hopped on his bike with the hook in his eye and his rod in his hand and rode the few hundred yards back to his house. He was immediately taken to the emergency room.

“When I saw him, I said, ‘Whoa! Get in the truck!’” his dad, Daniel, said.

Because of how deep it was, the doctors wanted to give him pain medicine before they had a plastic surgeon remove it, but Manning was having none of that.

“Just get it out!” the pre-teen told the doctors.

And without any pain meds, they carefully removed the hook from Manning’s eyelid and cheek, and “by the grace of God,” his eye was left unscathed.

“They told me he’s one of the toughest kids they’ve ever come across,” Daniel said. “He stayed calm through the whole thing.”

Manning’s injury required just a few stitches, and they let him keep his hook!

Manning fishes everyday, and he’s ready to get back out there, but this time – his dad says, “Sunglasses and a pocket knife are mandatory while fishing!”

See Daniel’s full post below.