From Chicagobreakingnews.com
Two weeks after Natasha McShane first opened her eyes following a brutal bat beating in
Bucktown, she said a few key words that showed her mother her memories were still there.
The moment of recognition came as Sheila McShane was readying her 23-year-old daughter for bed after a particularly frustrating day of rehabilitation. "I just heard her say, 'Mommy, I'm sorry,' " said Sheila McShane at a fundraiser for her daughter today. "That was the moment. I was just in tears because she recognized me."
Natasha McShane's family has held vigil by her hospital bedside since the Northern Irish exchange student and her close friend Stacy Jurich, 24, were attacked under a viaduct in April as they walked home after a night spent celebrating McShane's summer internship.
First told that the graduate student at the University of Illinois at
Chicago may never walk or talk again, McShane's family said they were overjoyed when she finally opened her eyes in May and began to make sounds. Over the past month, McShane has made steady improvements, relearning how to form words and move her body, her family said.
"It's small steps every day, but it's slow," Sheila McShane said. "You'd just like her to wake up and be OK. But it's not like that."
On Sunday, McShane's mother, father, and younger brother participated in two fundraisers in
Chicago while three of her closest friends from Ireland stayed with her at the Rehabilitation Institute of
Chicago.
"We just had a sense that we had to do something," said Mary Crivello Witt who traveled from Milwaukee with her husband to volunteer at the Irish American Heritage Center in
Chicago's
Irving Park neighborhood.
McShane's parents, who are from Northern Ireland, said they were humbled by the generosity of people from
Chicago and all over the United States, who have already helped to raise over $200,000 for their daughter's recovery.
Reputed gang member Heriberto Viramontes and Marcy Cruz have been charged in the attack.
Later this month, Natasha will undergo another procedure to reattach a portion of her skull that had to be removed following the beating, Sheila McShane said. At that point, her family said they hope to be able to move her to another rehab facility in Northern Ireland.
Sheila McShane said on Sunday that she still feels "bitter" over what happened to her daughter. Natasha had almost finished her master's degree in urban planning and had hoped to bring what she had learned in
Chicago back to her hometown, Silverbridge.
"She couldn't wait to get here," said Sheila McShane, as she stood in the Heritage Center's library, scanning the works of famed Irish writers and politicians. "It's still hard to digest."
That's inspiring,seeing that they pegged her for not being able to walk or talk again.But the comments burned me on that page.For example,this one...
EUGENE2012 on
June 14, 2010 12:30 AMWhy does this story keep getting pub? What's next, an after school special maybe?
Eugene,what?Are you a Spanish Faggot,...oops,I mean Spanish Cobra?Fucking biggot-ass gang-banger-lover.Eugene,you better remember the shame that faggot,Heriberto and that crackwhore,Marcy did.Or did you send them for "Gas money" that night they got beaten?Go fuck,yourself,Eugene.
