Sexual assault victim out of Intensive Care

A woman who survived a life-threatening assault last month has been moved out of intensive care while family says that they have been overwhelmed with support and are renewing their request for peace in the community.

The woman was left clinging to life following a Sept. 30 assault. A 20-year-old man is in custody on a number of charges stemming from the incident.

She has since stabilized physically to the point that she was recently moved out of the Intensive Care Unit.

“We no longer have to worry that she is going to die,” said family spokesperson Ken Rouse. “As long as she was in ICU, the risk of her dying, of course at the beginning, was very high. We can just focus on her recovery now.”

Rouse said the next step for the woman will be working on communication.

“Right now, she is just tracking,” he said. “And she’s definitively responding to (her husband) anytime he asks her to do something,” he said. “So they’ve asked him to stay.”

While the woman has periods of being awake and asleep, movements she makes are involuntary.

“It’s kind of like you are sleepwalking,” Rouse said. “On a technical level, they still kind of consider her in a comatose state.”

Rouse said the family has been focused on the woman’s recovery and have not been directly involved in any fundraising. However, they have been overwhelmed by the support from people in the city, across the country, and in different parts of the world.

“Lethbridge itself has been just incredible,” he said. “These are people just doing things on their own.

“It gives a person a sense of hope, that is for sure. You get this feeling knowing that you’re not walking this thing alone. So many people have jumped on board (in support). There’s no words for it.”

Rouse renewed his call for peace in the community.

“We want people to remain focused on prayer, because that’s where we believe our hope is. And to stay positive.”

He said lashing out in anger was not helpful to the family or to the woman’s recovery efforts.

“Negative emotions and feelings, and bitterness and anger never helped anyone. That’s exactly why we are in this position. Somebody was angry in life.

“We want to encourage people to just stay positive and continue to be compassionate to each other, and to show love for one another.

“It’s hard to explain, but we are at peace and we want to remain at peace. And we’ll let the courts deal with it now.”

A fundraising concert and silent auction has been set up for Nov. 5 at Legends Pub beginning at 4 p.m.

Follow @JWSchnarrHerald on Twitter