A 28-year-old woman severely burned when a stranger threw an acid-like liquid in her face has vowed that the attack will not ruin her life.
Bethany Storro was about to walk into a Starbucks cafe when a female approached her out of the blue and asked, 'Hey pretty girl, do you want to drink this?'.
The total stranger then threw a cup of liquid in Miss Storro's face - and doctors believe it was a kind of acid.
She is now recovering in the burns unit at a hospital in Portland, Oregon, having undergone surgery - and she held a press conference today recounting her ordeal.
Heavily bandaged after her operation, and flanked by her mother and father, Nancy and Joe Neuwelt, she said: 'It was the most painful thing ever. My heart stopped. It ripped through my clothing the instant it touched my shirt; I could feel it burning through my second layer of skin.'
Her mother said she believed that her daughter's eyesight could have been lost had she not been wearing a pair of sunglasses she had only bought hours earlier. She referred to it as 'the hand of God protecting her eyes - she would have been blind'.
Miss Storro insisted that she would not let the attack wreck her life, and even joked about the possibility of losing her sight.
She revealed that she had spinal meningitis twice as a child, which robbed her of most of her hearing, and said, 'Oh my gosh, to be hard of hearing and blind? That would drive them nuts', referring to her parents.
She added: 'They have to be in the same room for me to hear them. I'm just so glad it's a miracle.'
About her attacker, who struck in Vancouver, Washington, she said: 'I have never, ever seen this girl in my entire life. When I first saw her, she had this weirdness about her - like jealousy, rage.
'Was it a dare, or did the woman wake up Monday morning and tell herself that today, she was going to "carry some acid in a cup and throw it on the first person I see?".'
Vancouver police spokeswoman Kim Kapp said that doctors and authorities are trying to determine what kind of substance caused Miss Storro's facial burns.
Police have described the suspect as an African-American female between 25 and 35 years old. Eyewitnesses say she was wearing a green shirt and khaki pants at the time of attack. Her hair is described as either in a ponytail or slicked back.
Dr Nick Eshraghi said Miss Storro suffered second-degree burns and perhaps deeper burns. He added that his goal during the surgery was to remove as much damaged skin as possible.
Mrs Neuwelt called the attack 'an act of evil', while Mr Neuwelt said the family hoped the attacker was quickly found.
'You can imagine how I feel,' he said. 'This is my little girl. We're going to get through this we're not going to allow this to stop our lives. We're going to get through it.
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