2aguy
Diamond Member
- Jul 19, 2014
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I covered this story when I saw it covered on the show 48 Hours.....
48 Hours Live to Tell: Melissa Dohme's story of survival - CBS News
I just saw an update on one of the daytime shows....she had surgery to replace a nerve in her face so that her smile wouldn't be lopsided when she got married.
I remember this story, one, because of the violent attack..which she survived ...and then, because in the episode she stated she learned how to shoot, and now carries a gun because she will never be helpless again...she and her now husband would go to the range together and shoot......
Melissa Dohme, just 20 years old at the time, was viciously stabbed 32 times outside her Clearwater, Fla., home --simply for ending a relationship. Some of the images in this story are tough to look at, but Melissa wants you to see them. With violence against women dominating the headlines, she says we can't afford to turn away. This is her story.
---
I remember thinking ... at one point, "He is doing exactly what he said he was gonna do." He always told me that if ... I was to break up with him, you know, he would come back, and kill me.
heard a click ... I didn't know what the sound was, he just started just stabbing me with that knife ... he just kept coming at my face.
I knew my face was completely covered in blood, and my hair felt soaking wet. I mean, it was seriously, like, dripping wet, like I just got outta the shower.
I was trying to scream and I'm trying to crawl and I wasn't getting anywhere.
I felt myself dying so ... I couldn't really breathe. .... I felt myself I really was not going to make it. I really said "this is it."
I just kept praying, "Just please don't let me die (cries)."
----
She had multiple teeth knocked out. She had lacerations to the left side of her face. She had long blonde hair and it was absolutely drenched, soaked in blood, which made it very difficult to actually see the wounds.
So I had to go more hands on. I was feeling her head and actually you could feel where the knife penetrated her skull, where your fingertips would actually slide in to where the knife stabbed her.
Our biggest concern was her blood loss. We could control the blood that we see. But it's the bleeding that we don't see that's gonna kill her.
We knew she needed to get to a trauma center, and get to a trauma center quickly. So I called a helicopter. So while I continued patient care on scene ... Melissa is awake. She's alert which is amazing.
Her will to survive was strong ... the defense wounds on both arms were just very, very traumatic. Both arms were basically butchered, you know. She put up one hell of a fight.
----
Melissa died twice in our emergency room-- and each time we were able to get back. I wasn't giving up and she wasn't giving up. And so, if she wasn't gonna give up, our team wasn't gonna give up.
And the meeting that would lead to her marrying the man who helped save her...
Cameron Hill: The thought came back to me, as the helicopter was leaving ... I'd -- I had that feeling that I was gonna see her again.
Melissa Dohme: And then next thing I know, he was messaging me online, inviting me to dinner at the station ... Oh my g -- I mean, I counted, like, every moment until that Tuesday at 6:00. And I was telling mom, "Like, we need to bring something. ... I was like, "Let's make cupcakes, you know ... And so we made cupcakes. And we said on them, "Thank you to, you know ... our heroes."
48 HOURS SEGMENT EXTRAS
Attack survivor Melissa Dohme thanks her heroes
Cameron Hill: She couldn't stop laughing. She was giddy the whole night. So at that point, it made me like her even more.
Melissa Dohme: Cameron showed my mom and I around the station. I tried on his uniform, and his hat, and his big, you know, jacket.
And he let me sit in the truck. And, you know, it was just like-- I mean, (laughs) I felt like-- my first crush all over again.
We started talking and we realized we have a lot in common. ...and we found out that we both enjoy shooting. And that was how he kinda, you know, asked me out on our first date.
And he said, "'you and I should go shooting sometime'" and I was like hands down, "I would love to go shooting with you," you know and we've been shooting together ever since.
I will never ever be defenseless again in my life. ... Under any circumstances I will be able to defend myself.
And this is what I saw a few days ago....an update to her story.......
Woman Disfigured In Savage Attack By Ex Marries EMT Who Rescued Her After Surgery To Repair Smile
The beaming bride arrived in a horse drawn carriage at her March 4 wedding in Florida with a big and bright smile and a heart full of joy.
Her assailant sliced her across the face and damaged a facial nerve, which left Dohme's with a lopsided smile.
After Hill proposed in 2015, Dohme was determined to get it back, telling Inside Edition: “I want to smile when I walk down the aisle.”
In 2015, Dr. Tessa Hadlock at Massachusetts Eye and Ear, performed the groundbreaking surgery to restore her smile.
She took muscles from Melissa’s inner thigh and transplanted them to her face starting at the corner of her mouth.
Read: Woman Throws Goodbye Party 'Tata to My Tatas' After She's Diagnosed With Breast Cancer
Inside Edition was given access to the operation at Massachusetts Eye and Ear in Boston where Dr. Hadlock performed the intricate eight-hour surgery.
It took a year-and-a-half for the implanted muscle and nerves to re-generate in her face, but it was a success, and Dohme was a beaming bride on her wedding day.
48 Hours Live to Tell: Melissa Dohme's story of survival - CBS News
I just saw an update on one of the daytime shows....she had surgery to replace a nerve in her face so that her smile wouldn't be lopsided when she got married.
I remember this story, one, because of the violent attack..which she survived ...and then, because in the episode she stated she learned how to shoot, and now carries a gun because she will never be helpless again...she and her now husband would go to the range together and shoot......
Melissa Dohme, just 20 years old at the time, was viciously stabbed 32 times outside her Clearwater, Fla., home --simply for ending a relationship. Some of the images in this story are tough to look at, but Melissa wants you to see them. With violence against women dominating the headlines, she says we can't afford to turn away. This is her story.
---
I remember thinking ... at one point, "He is doing exactly what he said he was gonna do." He always told me that if ... I was to break up with him, you know, he would come back, and kill me.
heard a click ... I didn't know what the sound was, he just started just stabbing me with that knife ... he just kept coming at my face.
I knew my face was completely covered in blood, and my hair felt soaking wet. I mean, it was seriously, like, dripping wet, like I just got outta the shower.
I was trying to scream and I'm trying to crawl and I wasn't getting anywhere.
I felt myself dying so ... I couldn't really breathe. .... I felt myself I really was not going to make it. I really said "this is it."
I just kept praying, "Just please don't let me die (cries)."
----
She had multiple teeth knocked out. She had lacerations to the left side of her face. She had long blonde hair and it was absolutely drenched, soaked in blood, which made it very difficult to actually see the wounds.
So I had to go more hands on. I was feeling her head and actually you could feel where the knife penetrated her skull, where your fingertips would actually slide in to where the knife stabbed her.
Our biggest concern was her blood loss. We could control the blood that we see. But it's the bleeding that we don't see that's gonna kill her.
We knew she needed to get to a trauma center, and get to a trauma center quickly. So I called a helicopter. So while I continued patient care on scene ... Melissa is awake. She's alert which is amazing.
Her will to survive was strong ... the defense wounds on both arms were just very, very traumatic. Both arms were basically butchered, you know. She put up one hell of a fight.
----
Melissa died twice in our emergency room-- and each time we were able to get back. I wasn't giving up and she wasn't giving up. And so, if she wasn't gonna give up, our team wasn't gonna give up.
And the meeting that would lead to her marrying the man who helped save her...
Cameron Hill: The thought came back to me, as the helicopter was leaving ... I'd -- I had that feeling that I was gonna see her again.
Melissa Dohme: And then next thing I know, he was messaging me online, inviting me to dinner at the station ... Oh my g -- I mean, I counted, like, every moment until that Tuesday at 6:00. And I was telling mom, "Like, we need to bring something. ... I was like, "Let's make cupcakes, you know ... And so we made cupcakes. And we said on them, "Thank you to, you know ... our heroes."
48 HOURS SEGMENT EXTRAS
Attack survivor Melissa Dohme thanks her heroes
Cameron Hill: She couldn't stop laughing. She was giddy the whole night. So at that point, it made me like her even more.
Melissa Dohme: Cameron showed my mom and I around the station. I tried on his uniform, and his hat, and his big, you know, jacket.
And he let me sit in the truck. And, you know, it was just like-- I mean, (laughs) I felt like-- my first crush all over again.
We started talking and we realized we have a lot in common. ...and we found out that we both enjoy shooting. And that was how he kinda, you know, asked me out on our first date.
And he said, "'you and I should go shooting sometime'" and I was like hands down, "I would love to go shooting with you," you know and we've been shooting together ever since.
I will never ever be defenseless again in my life. ... Under any circumstances I will be able to defend myself.
And this is what I saw a few days ago....an update to her story.......
Woman Disfigured In Savage Attack By Ex Marries EMT Who Rescued Her After Surgery To Repair Smile
The beaming bride arrived in a horse drawn carriage at her March 4 wedding in Florida with a big and bright smile and a heart full of joy.
Her assailant sliced her across the face and damaged a facial nerve, which left Dohme's with a lopsided smile.
After Hill proposed in 2015, Dohme was determined to get it back, telling Inside Edition: “I want to smile when I walk down the aisle.”
In 2015, Dr. Tessa Hadlock at Massachusetts Eye and Ear, performed the groundbreaking surgery to restore her smile.
She took muscles from Melissa’s inner thigh and transplanted them to her face starting at the corner of her mouth.
Read: Woman Throws Goodbye Party 'Tata to My Tatas' After She's Diagnosed With Breast Cancer
Inside Edition was given access to the operation at Massachusetts Eye and Ear in Boston where Dr. Hadlock performed the intricate eight-hour surgery.
It took a year-and-a-half for the implanted muscle and nerves to re-generate in her face, but it was a success, and Dohme was a beaming bride on her wedding day.
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