Hannah Powell had eight vodka and orange cocktails on an organised bar crawl with friends, before they called it a night at 3am.
Thirty six hours later she was fighting for her life in hospital.
The “vodka” had been laced with the deadly chemical methanol, which has destroyed her eyesight and left her on dialysis. The GPs’ receptionist is now registered blind.
In a harrowing first ever interview, she warns other holidaying Brits: “Don’t end up like me.”
“But one day my friends woke me up and it was pitch black. I asked them to open the curtains but they said they were already open and the sun was streaming in.
“I just fell to my knees. I was blind. It was devastating.”
Today Hannah tells how her “nightmare” break to the Greek island of Zante last summer has robbed her of her independence and left her scared to go out.
If it were not for her mother Christine, 52 — who fortunately is a match for a kidney transplant — she would be spending the rest of her life hooked up to dialysis machines.
Hannah adds: “My mum is my hero. Her transplant might be the lifeline I need for getting some kind of life back.”
Greek police believe criminal gangs based in Albania and Bulgaria supplied the vodka laced with methanol — a highly toxic form of alcohol used to make anti-freeze.
Hannah’s two friends got off lightly.
Lauren Connors, 21, needed a week off work suffering from severe stomach cramps after she returned home to Teesside.
Hannah’s story is a stark warning to the many Brits who will flock to Europe’s party resorts this summer.
She and her two pals paid around £500 each for a seven-night break with Thomson in the resort of Laganas last August.
“We’re not massive drinkers but we had a few nights on The Strip.
“We stayed away from drinks that looked dodgy, like the ‘fishbowls’ of cocktails. We were being pretty sensible.”
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