A woman who had her lip bitten off by her ex-boyfriend after she refused to take him back has shared an update on her recovery seven years on from the harrowing incident.
In 2017, Kayla Hayes, who was just 17 at the time, was viciously attacked in Simpsonville, South Carolina, by her abusive ex-boyfriend, Seth Aaron Fleury, then 21, because she ended their relationship.
The pair had been dating for a year when Hayes decided to call it quits on their romance in September 2017, saying Fleury had become abusive. When the pair met up a few weeks later to talk, he begged her to rethink her decision but Hayes refused.
Fleury then leant in to kiss her and refused to let go, even when she pulled away, leading him to tear away 85 per cent of her lip, the attack so brutal he landed himself with a 12 year jail sentence.
Seven years on from the attack that left her with painful scarring and feeling like ‘a monster’, the now 26-year-old has come on leaps and bounds.
Sharing a photograph on Instagram recently, she appeared jubilant and happy as she beamed for a flash selfie, her scars from the attack barely visible.
With minimal scarring and a huge smile, Hayes looked like a different person altogether from the bloodied face she was left with by her violent ex, which left her in a puddle of blood as she was whisked to hospital.
Fans wrote left sweet comments below the picture, calling her ‘beautiful’ and ‘admirable’, with one remarking that she was ‘shining bright’.
In 2017, Kayla Hayes, who was just 17 at the time, was viciously attacked in Simpsonville, South Carolina, by her abusive ex-boyfriend, Seth Aaron Fleury, then 21, because she ended their relationship. Pictured on the day of the attack
Following the attack in 2017, Hayes underwent emergency plastic surgery – but medics were unable to re-attach her lip.
She described her horror at feeling ‘completely mutilated’ by the attack.
But since the incident nearly a decade ago, Hayes appears to have regained her smile, with several pictures from the last few years showing her smiling and looking happy.
With the help of lip and cheek filler, she has also been able to disguise her scarring and to rebuild her confidence.
Now an advocate, speaker and author, Hayes has also published her own book, titled She Rises, about her journey to healing both teenage domestic violence, and childhood sexual abuse.
The book, which highlights her ‘decision to ruse and wear her scars as wings’, scored countless glowing reviews and even won her the Next Generation Indie Book Awards Winner in 2022.
Hayes and Fleury began dating on 21 October 2016, when she was 17 and he was 21.
But after a year of being together, things turned sour and Kayla decided to break things off, saying Fleury had come to treat her like his ‘property’.
When she eventually plucked up the courage to end their relationship in September 2017, he refused to accept things were ending and after meeting up a few weeks later, went in to try and kiss her.
Hayes and Fleury began dating on 21 October 2016, when she was 17 and her then boyfriend was 21. The couple pictured before the attack
Seven years on from the attack that left her feeling like ‘a monster’, the now 26-year-old has come a long way. Pictured on Instagram seven weeks ago
Back in 2017, on the day of her horrendous attack, Hayes underwent emergency plastic surgery but doctors were unable to attach her lip. Pictured recently on Instagram
And as she pulled away, he bit down on her bottom lip with such force that it was ripped off.
Hayes underwent emergency plastic surgery, but doctors were unable to reattach her lip and she was left with permanent scarring and a limited range of motion with her mouth.
Fortunately in 2018, a year after the brutal attack, Hayes gained justice when Fleury was jailed for 12 years.
Judge Robin N. Stilwell sentenced Fleury to 12 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to assault and battery of high and aggravated nature at Greenville County Courthouse.
His sentence made it so that he would be forced to serve at least 85 per cent of his sentence before being made eligible for parole.
During the hearing, Hayes recalled in detail the day her life changed at the hands of someone who claimed he would always protect her in a heartbreaking victim impact statement provided to DailyMail.com.
In it, she recalled how she ended up sitting in a puddle of her own blood with her lip on her leg and wishing her injuries would take her life.
‘October 21st, 2017. This was the day that a piece of me died,’ she said
Hayes was 17 when she began dating Fleury (pictured during their relationship) in October 2016
‘No one deserves to be hurt by the ones they love, but unfortunately it is more common than we realise.
‘Everyone has a story and just because you don’t see their scars, as you will mine, this doesn’t meant that they didn’t fight the same battle.
‘Even if my story only helps one single person, I will know that there was a reason for this happening to me.’
She added: ‘No one truly believes that this could happen to them but it can happen in the blink of an eye.
‘Someone could be the most outstanding person you have ever met, but until you are with them behind closed doors you just never know.
In her victim impact statement, she said: ‘I remember every detail of this very moment, the thoughts that ran through my mind when I opened my camera, were very dark which only seemed to worsen.
‘Sitting in a puddle of my own blood with the majority of my lip laying on my leg, my whole mouth on fire, confused and terrified, I didn’t know how I could ever show my face again.
‘At that point, honestly wishing that those very seconds would just be my last – I wanted to give up for good.
‘I kept replaying what had just happened in my head, from telling Seth that I was not there to get back together with him, however I was there for him to right his wrongs.
‘To getting flowers and cards thrown at the back of my head and then quickly get in my car to seeing my leg shaking uncontrollably to finally look up at him picking everything up.
‘I could not figure out how this happened so fast. I couldn’t figure out how he was so mad. From putting the items in the passenger seat leading to him trying to kiss me.
‘Of course, as I said before, I wasn’t there to get back together with him. I refused and backed up only to feeling him latch on to me. Feeling it tear about half way.
‘I then just started screaming at the top of my lungs for help and out of fear for my life. He then yanked me out of my own vehicle and slammed the door in my face so he could take off, and run away from what he had just done.’
While on the journey to the hospital, Fleury continued to blow up her phone with calls.
She detailed her horror at having ‘something many women hold precious to them’ be ‘completely mutilated’.
In the ambulance, Hayes didn’t have the heart to call her mother, who was on holiday at the time, by calling her. It was the first she had taken without her daughter.
When she called friends, they couldn’t understand her when she tried to explain what had happened because of the severity of her injury.
‘I remember being in the ambulance, being told to call my mother. I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
‘She was seven hours away on her first vacation she had ever taken without me, how could I ruin it.
‘I then got on the phone with her friend and I remember trying to say he bit me but no one could understand me because my lips couldn’t pronounce it.’
She said she was still deeply affected by the sound of an ambulance, and was often left in ‘a panic’ whenever she heard one.
Waking up in hospital was even more of a shock, but she was grateful for her nurse ‘trying to lighten the air’.
‘She chuckled and nodded then proceeded to bring me a mask to cover my face.
‘That was when it hit me, this was my new reality. What I just woke up from was no joke. Never a day in my life will I ever wake up living my ‘normal’ life again.’
In the months following the attack, she said she found herself blaming herself for breaking up with ‘someone that I knew didn’t deserve me which he proved once again.’
She recalled how he ‘manipulated’ her to the point that she nearly lost all those dear to her, saying she had been ‘naive’ to the abuse that Fleury was inflicting on her as he was her first ever boyfriend.
The attack was so severe that she was left unable to drive and feeling like ‘a monster and was even forced to withdraw from college, where she was studying dental hygiene, and as a result, lost her scholarship.
Having to pay for her own college fees left her and her mother out of pocket and they were forced to sell their first home as a result.
She described ‘smothering’ herself in makeup just to leave the house, often finding people ‘staring’ at her in the street.
Hayes was also left with crippling anxiety, terrifying nightmares and even struggled to eat, unable to open her mouth wide enough for even a small fork or spoon.
The horror inflicted on her at the hands of Fleury didn’t go away either. As well as the nightmares, she would be woken up at all hours of the night to be told if Fleury’s ankle monitor hadn’t registered a signal.
‘No one understands how everyday is a struggle to get up and go about my days, but if I sit down and let this defeat me then he will only get more satisfaction out of what he’s done.. so I just ask that the focus today is on what he is done and not at how far I have come or what I have felt that I have had to do to overcome what he has done to me.’
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