A teenager who was brutally beaten in a savage attack that saw her head smashed into concrete has woken up from a coma.
Kaylee Gain, 16, was allegedly beaten by a fellow student near her school. The youngster has been in intensive care since earlier this month and after waking has revealed she does not remember the awful attack that put her in hospital.
It happened near Hazelwood East High School in St. Louis in Missouri, US, and videos of it quickly spread on social media.
The disturbing footage shows a fellow student, aged 15, hitting Kaylee while she lay helpless on the ground. Kaylee suffered serious brain injuries, including damage to her frontal lobe and medics were unsure if she’d ever recover.
She can now have short chats with her parents but does not remember much else of the incident that put her in hospital three weeks ago, reports the Mirror.
In a letter from the family’s lawyer, Bryan Kaemmerer revealed Kaylee is “now out of the intensive care unit” and has been able to speak with her parents, even if it’s just for a little while, but is unable to walk on her own.
“Kaylee has also recently begun speech therapy and has gone on a few short walks with the assistance of hospital staff, as she is still unable to ambulate on her own,” Mr Kaemmerer added.
Kaylee’s mum and dad are asking for everyone to keep her in their thoughts and prayers. They also want to say a big thank you to everyone who has donated to the GoFundMe pages set up to help with the costs of Kaylee getting better.
Two money-raising events, one started by family friend Sarah Hall and the other by Kaylee’s cousin Hayden have together raised nearly $450,000.
Kaemmerer said Kaylee’s family want the teenager to be tried as if they were an adult given the severity of the attack and Kaylee’s injuries.
“Given the particularly violent nature of this assault, and also taking into account the devastating injuries that Kaylee has incurred, it is difficult to imagine a more appropriate case for a juvenile to be certified as an adult,” Kaemmerer wrote.
