The family of a Missouri school girl who was badly beaten earlier this month says she is out of her coma — and out of the intensive care unit.
“Kaylee is now out of the intensive care unit, and in the past few days Kaylee has been able to engage in limited verbal conversations,” her parents said in a statement released by their lawyer cited by St. Louis’ KSDK.
“Kaylee also recently began 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,” they added. “However, Kaylee does not have any recollection of the altercation that led to her hospitalization.”
Earlier, her mother had written on a fundraising site that her daughter “still has an incredibly long journey ahead of her,” which seemed hardly less true a week later.
Gain’s parents are also demanding that her attacker be tried as an adult for inflicting brain damage on their 16-year-old daughter.
“[T]he family believes trying the accused as an adult is the most appropriate way to provide the justice that Kaylee deserves,” the statement said, according to the U.K.’s Daily Mail.
The Gain family said such a trial was appropriate “”given the particularly violent nature of this assault, and also taking into account the devastating injuries that Kaylee has incurred,” even though her accused attacker, Maurnice DeClue, was only 15.
Because of her age, authorities had not publicly identified DeClue, KSDK noted.
However, DeClue’s parents issued what the outlet described as “an open letter” Thursday, in what seemed to be an attempt to defend DeClue’s character and reputation.
DeClue’s mother also “seemed confused” by attempts to politicize the incident.
“This is not about racism,” she told KSDK. “This is about two girls having a fight.”
Family friend Sarah Hall, who started a GoFundMe to support the Gain family, wrote on that site that Kaylee Gain had been admitted to a St. Louis hospital “with a skull fracture and frontal lobe damage.”
At the time, she had been diagnosed with “major brain bleeding and swelling and is in critical condition,” Hall wrote then.
“Kaylee is fighting hard to stay alive and heal but this is only the beginning of a very uphill battle for Kaylee and her family,” she wrote.
Ten days later, mom April Gain wrote an update there, saying that Kaylee had been moved from the ICU and was considered to be in “stable” condition.
“She still has an incredibly long journey ahead of her but she is strong,” she wrote.
The GoFundMe, started three days after the fight on March 12, crossed the $400,000 threshold early Saturday morning.
It was seeking to raise a total of half a million dollars to help cover “lost wages and piling up medical bills.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
