Assault Victim Against All Odds
Hi! My name is Rebecca and this is my dad, Joe. On June 9th I was awakened by a knock on my door at 3 in the morning. It was the Albion Police notifying me that my dad had been assaulted while defending a girl he thought was his friend and that he was on the way to the hospital and it didn't look good. This girl was involved in an altercation with her parolee boyfriend and my dad intervened and tried to calm the man down. When he turned to walk away, the convicted rapist punched him in the back of his head several times causing him to fall to the ground where he proceeded to continue punching him in the head so viciously that he broke several bones in his hand and wrist. When my dad arrived at the local hospital, they called in Mercy Flight to transport him to Buffalo General due to the severities of his injuries. My dad suffered a massive stroke which paralyzed his right side and swallowing capabilities as well as a broken neck. The neurosurgeons told us that the damage was irreversible and there was no hope that my dad would survive. If he did survive it would be in basically a vegetative state. He is currently still at Buffalo General and against all odds has started the long road to recovery. He will be transferred to a Rehabilitation program soon where he will undergo extensive physical and occupational therapy to hopefully regain some of the movement on his right side. His insurance will only cover 21 days of rehab before he will be responsible for payment out of pocket. The doctors said that he was not cognitive and that he would never be able to speak or swallow and wouldn't be able to provide his own nourishment. He is currently awake, knows who we all are and is in speech therapy 5x a week. They removed the life support and my dad was able to breath on his own! He is still paralyzed on the right side but with extensive rehab I am hopeful that he can regain movement. My dad is a cancer survivor and a fighter, probably from his time served in the United States Army. Joe has a lot to live for and just keeps proving that miracles do happen. He has 2 daughter's and 2 amazing grandchildren, Isabella 5 and Vincent 2.
The assailant is currently incarcerated and has been charged with attempted murder, assault in the 1st and 2nd degree and violating parole.
Below are articles published by The Daily News:
http://www.thedailynewsonline.com/bdn01/assault-victim-a-fighter-as-condition-improves-20170629 is
Thank you for taking the time to read my story and for all the prayers and well wishes.