A Florida woman who was blind for more than two decades has regained her sight after a fall at home — a "miracle" doctors are hard-pressed to explain.

Mary Ann Franco lost her sight in 1993 after she was badly injured in a car accident and suffered a stroke on the operating table, NBC News reports.

"Nothing. I couldn't see anything. However hell felt, I felt like I was there," says Franco.

Franco, now 70, overcame the tragedy, telling herself to "get up and get moving."

Decades later, Franco tripped and fell on uneven tiles in her Okeechobee, Fla., home. She was hurt again and was sent back in hospital undergoing surgery to realign her spine.

When she woke up, Franco could see again after 23 years.

Franco's neurosurgeon, Dr. John Afshar, told NBC News there's "really no explanation" as to why Franco regained her vision, but speculated that an artery may have become kinked during the initial operation, and could then have been corrected during the subsequent operation, which he says may have re-established blood flow.

As for her now-bright future, Franco is working on getting her driver's licence and plans to visit family in Michigan next month, when she'll see faces she's been missing for two decades, including a grandchild she's never laid eyes on.