Miss Jamaica Gabrielle Henry is suing the Miss Universe organization over a brutal stage fall that left her with a severe brain injury, saying the incident “permanently altered the course of my life.”

Henry, a doctor, filed the lawsuit Monday in Delaware Superior Court, nearly a year after she plunged through an opening in the stage during the Miss Universe preliminary rounds in Thailand.

Henry was walking across the stage when she was blinded by the “intense lighting” and fell into an “unmarked and uncovered opening in the stage” about five feet deep in November 2025, according to the lawsuit obtained by People.

The opening contained concrete and lighting equipment, and the fall left Henry unconscious with a traumatic brain injury, including multiple brain bleeds, according to the suit.

“I fell into an unguarded hole, sustaining a traumatic brain injury that permanently altered the course of my life. All at once, a beautiful moment became a shattered dream,” Henry wrote in an essay published by the outlet Wednesday.

“Recovery from a traumatic brain injury is difficult to describe. It feels as though you’ve had an out-of-body experience and returned to one that is not your own,” she added.

Henry spent months in hospitals in Bangkok and Jamaica from November 2025 through March 2026. The injuries kept her from completing her residency and have derailed her career in ophthalmology, she said.

“As an ophthalmologist, being in the hospital was also a particularly painful reminder of what I had lost on the way down during my fall,” she wrote.

“I’ve transformed from student to doctor to patient, and I am trying to move forward again by continuing my career on a modified schedule and with my providers on speed dial.”

The lawsuit accused Miss Universe and Thai pageant producer Miss Grand International of negligence, premises liability and infliction of emotional distress.

Henry alleges the stage opening was not properly protected.

“This opening was not barricaded, illuminated, nor did it have a sign,” the lawsuit states, adding that there were no safety markers during rehearsals or the live broadcast despite contestants raising concerns.

Miss Universe officials initially described Henry’s injuries as “a couple of minor wounds.”

Weeks later, the organization said the “serious fall” caused “significant injuries” and that it took “full and immediate responsibility without hesitation,” including paying her medical bills.

Henry made her first public appearance since the fall at an Atlanta charity event in May, seated in a chair. In August, she returned to the stage to crown her successor, Miss Jamaica 2026 Nevaeh Allen.

“As pageant queens, we are tasked with lifting others up. Throughout my journey, I learned to let others do the lifting,” Henry wrote in her essay.

“I continue to stand firm in my belief that the true reason for my fall, the meaning behind it all, will reveal itself somehow.”