NATASHA MCSHANE, THE young Irish student who was brutally attacked while in Chicago, has been facing countless struggles since her return home to Northern Ireland.
Her father, Liam McShane, spoke about his daughter’s health to the Chicago Sun Times this week, and said that the 23-year-old college exchange student had not made progress since her return.
Natasha and a friend were assaulted with a baseball bat in an unprovoked attack as they left a bar in Bucktown, Chicago, on 23 April 2010.
Two people have been charged with armed robbery and aggravated battery in connection with the attack – Heriberto Viramontes, 30, and his girlfriend Marcy Cruz, 25.
Mr McShane told the newspaper that his daughter is now “incapable of doing tasks even a small child can manage” and that since her return to Armagh in July 2010 she has “had setbacks from Day One”.
Natasha has had infections and seizures, and had to have part of her skull removed by Chicago doctors after her brain swelled.
The bone that was removed was placed in a pocket created in her abdomen and was due to be reattached last summer in Northern Ireland, but Mr McShane said that surgeons at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast found that the skull part had shrunk by 30 per cent.
Although the bone was grafted back onto her skull, an infection set in and it had to be removed.
Natasha is cared for by minders and, says her father, cannot walk. When she was in hospital in Chicago, she was able to walk with the help of therapists. She has also lost the power she had in her left arm, and can only say the Irish word ‘sinn’.
Her father said that in the Chicago hospitals, Natasha’s family were “viewed as valuable members of the health care team”, but in Ireland, they do not get to sleep in her hospital room or have as much of a role in her physical therapy.
More than $400,000 was raised for Natasha following the attack. The money has been put in a trust to help fund her long-term care.
Mr McShane thanked the people of Chicago for their “prayers and all the things that people gave us” and asked people to “keep praying” for his daughter.
He added: “Everybody wants Natasha to get better. I’m not blaming anyone.”
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