Lincoln’s Aiden Wells lucky to be alive after spray can explosion

An engineer came close to death after an exploding spray can pierced his eyeball.

Aiden Wells views the near-miss as “a lucky escape rather than an unlucky accident”.

The 29-year-old was placed in a coma for two days due to a bleed on the brain — and his right eye was removed.

He says the accident last month has given him a new outlook on life and he’s realised how precious it is.

The accident took place on January 4 in his St Giles home in Lincoln.

“It was a one-in-a-million accident,” Aiden told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

“I’m still not sure exactly what happened – I was spray-painting shelves in my home workshop and had gone inside for 15 minutes.

“I remember going back into the workshop and then hitting the deck so hard I got concussion.

“I managed to drag myself out of the shed and my partner rushed me to A&E, where I basically fell out of the car into a paramedic’s arms.

“When I think back on it, I am so lucky to be here.

“If the fragments of the spray can had hit a tiny bit closer to my nose, I would probably have lost both eyes.”

Aiden was transferred to Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham, where his eye was removed due to the damage.

However he has recovered quickly, and has resumed some of his duties as Liberal Democrat representative for Glebe ward on Lincoln City Council.

“It seems almost more of a nuisance than a disability,” he said.

“Sometimes I miss things that I’m trying to pick up, but otherwise I feel at peace with what happened.

“To be sat here six weeks after the event is amazing, when I could easily have been blinded or brain-dead.

“The continuous flow of people coming to see me in ICU reminded me how lucky I was.

“I had been thinking about getting a dog since my old one died, but kept putting it off. After the accident, I thought I don’t want to wait and finally did it.

“Life is too precious.”

He says there are unanswered questions about how the spray can exploded, but wants to get on with his life rather than focus on a lengthy legal battle.

He will be fitted for a glass eye in the coming months, and doesn’t expect to have any complications.