At the tender age of 17, Samantha Wackford’s life was changed forever when a man walked up to her in the vicinity of Bourda Market and threw acid in her face, blinding her and disfiguring her face forever.
But today the young woman, who was known then as Samantha Walton, is now twenty-seven and she has moved on.
According to www.cnycentral. com, she will be graduating from the Morrisville State College with an associate degree this weekend.
Wackford’s attacker was never charged and she had stated that he was sent by an ex-boyfriend to do the dastardly deed.
That person fled the country shortly after the incident.
She had gone with the young man in a car to the area and he left the vehicle saying that he would return but he never did. Instead as she sat in the car someone approached her and threw the substance on her, damaging her face and other parts of her body.
“This happened as a result of that person paying someone to throw acid in my face,” the young woman was quoted as saying in the report.
It was stated that she and her mother had gone to the US with help from an international non-profit group and she had to undergo painful surgeries in Boston.
They returned to Guyana but Samantha decided she needed to learn to live on her own and she made the decision to return to the US on her own and joined a vision loss support programme in Boston.
“That was the big moment. That was the big – well you have to do this. You have no choice other than to fight for yourself,” she told the news agency.
Upon her return she found her strength, her confidence and a partner in the name of Troy Wackford in her programme and they decided to spend the rest of their lives together.
“That was a big moment in my life when I realized I’ll have the opportunity to love again, because that’s something I thought would never happen,” she stated in the report.
Troy is from the town of Oxford in Chenango County. When the couple moved back to New York so they could be close to his family, Samantha decided she would pursue her lifelong goal of attending college.
With help from technology that turns text into voice, Samantha completed all of her classes at Morrisville State’s Norwich campus. She became known at the school for her work ethic and drive – as well as not letting her disability hold her back.
“Especially when she does group projects. The other students rise to her level sometimes whereas they might not have if she had not been in the group. So it’s really a wonderful thing to see,” said one of her professors, Cindy Riedi in the report.
Samantha’s achievements won’t stop at Morrisville State. She’s going to SUNY Binghamton and she hopes to eventually have a career helping battered women.
“It’s a way for me giving back because I think the universe has been tremendously wonderful to me in terms of allowing me to survive,” said Samantha.
“To come from where she came from, and to go as far as she’s going to go,” said her husband Troy. “I’m there to witness it and to be a part of it.”
From tragedy to triumph, Samantha says faith, and the support of family and friends made everything she has accomplished over the past ten years possible.
“I am accomplishing these dreams that I never thought I’d be able to accomplish – and that means a great deal to me.”
