Injured Joleen (26) battles to stay alive after vicious attack

Injured Joleen (26) battles to stay alive after vicious attack

28 June 2017

A YOUNG Downpatrick mum who was the victim of a vicious assault in her home at the start of December and left fighting for her life has been moved to a different hospital.

Joleen Corr (26) — who was a beautician — was left with a serious brain injury after she was viciously assaulted in her Russell Park home, an attack which left her unconscious. 

In addition to the severe brain injury, the young mum was left with a broken jaw, almost 50 bruises all over her body, facial injuries and an ear injury. A man has been charged with attempted murder in connection with the assault.

Since the attack, Joleen was being cared for at the Royal Victoria Hospital but has now been transferred to Musgrave Park in the city for further therapy.

Originally from Beechmount in west Belfast, the young mum was set upon in her new home late in the evening. Since the attack and until recently, Joleen had remained on a neurological ward at the Royal Victoria.

Doctors have told her devastated parents that it is unlikely that the young woman will recover as the left side of her brain is dead. The stem of the brain is also damaged.

At Musgrave Park, Joleen is being treated in a specialist brain injury clinic. Her mother Carol told the Irish News her daughter had been moved so she can be given “more therapy”. 

She explained: “In Musgrave, she goes upstairs to a big gym to do physio. They do all the work with her limbs. She is paralysed from the neck down. She can’t move any limbs. Her eyes open but she doesn’t respond.”

Carol said her daughter was hoisted out of bed into a specialist wheelchair last week and the family were allowed to take her outside for a while. 

She said the 26-year-old had also appeared to focus on a photo of her little boy and also turned her head when she heard her mother’s voice.

“They have told us if there is any recovery it will be minimum,” she said. “If she was going to come out of it, they said she would have come round by now. Jolene has went against the odds. She has a very strong heart and she is fighting.”

Carol added: “The response and support from Joleen’s family and the community has been amazing. I just get this pain in my heart. You just wish she could walk in the door and be here with us. She will never be the Joleen she was. You always have that wee bit of hope.”