It’s a moment the family and friends of a 25-year-old Lethbridge woman have been waiting for: watching her walk out of the hospital in Calgary after surviving a vicious attack that doctors initially feared she would not survive.
“For us it has been this incredible journey, at the same time it was so incredible to watch,” said the woman’s father-in-law of her recovery so far. His identity is protected because of a publication ban in the case.
The woman was attacked early in the morning of Sept. 30, 2016 as she walked to work in the southern Alberta city, beaten with a weapon and left clinging to life in an alley until she was discovered by a passer-by. Twenty-year-old Denzel Dre Colton Bird, of Lethbridge, has been charged with several offences. He remains in custody.
His victim, who was released from Foothills hospital in Calgary this week, has returned home to Lethbridge to continue her recovery.
Her father-in-law describes the progress she has made so far as “a miracle.”
“We started out living in second-to-second, moment-to-moment,” he said, “then weekly moments and now it’s monthly moments.”
Throughout the ordeal, her husband has never left her side, sleeping on a cot beside her bed.
The first sign of recovery came when she began tracking her husband’s movements with her eyes at the hospital, then she began to speak in a whisper, then using her hands and moving her legs. Finally, she was able to leave the hospital on her own, though her father-in-law says she still struggles at times.
“Her walking isn’t fluid yet and she struggles with her balance. She can make a cup of coffee but needs someone to carry it for her. Her short-term and long-term memory is still not fully functional, it’s coming back, but there are still pieces missing.”
Despite the challenges, the couple are trying to return to a normal life.
Her husband “pushes her every day to try a little harder and go a little further so their tenacity feeds off each other.
“Already they are making plans this summer to kayak from Fort McLeod to Lethbridge.”
Her family credits much of the woman’s recovery to support from the community and the power of prayer.
Shortly after the attack, her family created a Facebook page so the community could track her recovery.
“Every time we would put out a prayer request on our page for what we needed to happen, within 24 hours we’d see a response from her,” her father-in-law said.
The outpouring of support meant the couple had no fear of returning to the city where the attack happened.
“We had so many businesses and individuals do so many things,” her father-in-law said. The Facebook page gets about 300,000 views per week.
In the future, her father-in-law says the woman wants to speak publicly.
“There will come a time when she will tell her own story.”
But for now she’s just happy to be out of the hospital.
“Nobody wants to be in a hospital, not that the hospital is bad or the people are bad, but it’s not a place you want to stay.”
With an interview from Quinn Campbell.
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