Schoolboy, 14, goes blind after rogue firework hit his eye while walking in the park

WARNING - GRAPHIC IMAGES: Joseph Stopforth was hit in the eye by a firework which damaged his optic nerve, causing complications that mean he may never see out of that eye again

A schoolboy has become blind in one eye after being struck by a rogue firework while walking through a park, his heartbroken mum has said.

Joseph Stopforth was pushing his bike to his grandparents' house in Childwall, Liverpool, on October 25 when a firework hit his right eye "out of nowhere." Despite being in "complete agony", the 14-year-old managed to stumble to Agnes and Keith Hewison's house so they could rush their grandson to hospital.

The horror injury required emergency surgery and his mum Jane Stopforth, who is Joseph's full-time carer, admitted his life has been "turned upside down" by it. Doctors told her the firework hit him directly in his eye and damaged his optic nerve, causing complications that mean he may never see out of that eye again.

An image shows his right eye patched over as he lies in hospital while another taken days later shows the dramatic difference to his left eye. The incident has been reported to Merseyside Police - and while it's unclear where the firework came from, it is believed to be from someone's back garden.

In the aftermath of the incident, Ms Stopforth has called for a blanket ban on firework sales to anyone not lighting them for organised events. The mum-of-three set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for travel costs to the hospital and adaptations to the family home that could help Joseph.

Jane, from Liverpool, Merseyside, said: "It's a horrific accident, it's completely turned his life upside down. He was going to his grandparents to stay the night. He was pushing his bike and a firework came out of nowhere and hit him in the eye.

"My parents don't live too far from the park so he went to the grandparents' and instead of calling me they took him to hospital, then my dad came to my house to get me. When we got to the hospital Joseph had been checked and they found there were problems with his eye.

"It was directly inside the eye, it didn't burn the skin, it's quite horrific. I was terrified seeing my little boy, he's such a good child. He was in a lot of pain, they think he's still in shock now. He was in agony and he was shaking. It was a massive shock obviously but the pain was the worst. The rest of my son's life has changed over someone's stupidity of buying these things. My son had nothing to do with it [the fireworks being set off]. I think they should be banned completely. I've never liked fireworks.

"I don't see any use in having fireworks other than a regulated display because it's scared the life out of me. It's so frightening, they're a danger, they need to be banned." Joseph had a three-and-a-half-hour surgery on November 1 to remove his eye lens but his injury was more severe than surgeons first thought.

The carer revealed her son will need further operations to determine if he'll be able to ever see outlines of things again. Jane said: "They took his lens out because it had moved. He had a bleed at the back of the eye so they tried to reattach the eye. They realised there was a hell of a lot more wrong with the eye than they first thought.

"He's going to need more surgery. How much, we don't know at this point. He had a hole in the back of his eye, it was more severe than they thought. They came out of surgery and explained the findings to me. They found out the optic nerve that goes to the brain is damaged, they don't know the outcome of it at this point.

"They're going to try and put a lens on his eye because the core vision of his eye has completely gone. They're going to try and make the eye look normal. This is a waiting game now but it's not going to return to anything like it was."

Jane said the extent of Joseph's injuries meant surgeons couldn't complete their emergency operation and he's due back in eight weeks for another op. She added her son's accident has put financial strain on the family so she hopes to raise £3,000 to cover hospital travel costs and home adaptations.

It is also preventing him from helping out with his disabled brother, Lewis Stopforth, 12. Jane said: "It's a big thing at 14 for your life to be just upside down. His whole life has just changed overnight. This is his world, he's depressed at the moment, it's really taken it out of him.

"It would mean the absolute lot to our family in general just to make Joseph's life easier. He has goals of what he wants to do. We don't know if he's going to be able to achieve them or if he's going to be able to drive or anything, it's impacted his whole world.

"He can't go to school, maybe not until next year. Running and fishing are his passion. It's still unknown if he'll be able to do these again. Lewis has special needs and heart problems and Joseph helps care for him. It puts a lot of stress on everybody but Joseph is our concern.

"It's impacting financially already. These adaptations that we're going to need are going to cost us money that we don't have. It's going to hopefully make Joseph's life a lot easier. He's at that age where education is crucial. We need things adapted now which are very expensive which I can't do. I don't know how he's going to adapt to life. We don't know the outcome of anything at this point." The Mirror has contacted Merseyside Police for comment. You can donate to the fundraiser here.