Woman paralyzed by ex-partner’s brutal attack now prepares for Paralympic Games
The October 24, 2019 in Florida (United States), Tracy Otto27-year-old Tracy Otto was sleeping with Ricky Riesslea boy she had known for a few weeks. Suddenly, Tracy’s former boyfriend burst into the house and, finding them together and in an uncontrollable fit of jealousy, they he assaulted them with a pellet gun“If it’s not me, it’s nobody else,” he shouted at them.
The aggressor Francpiero del Medico, shot Ricky in the head and face and Tracy in the back and genitals.. He also stabbed her back, which caused her spinal cord to be severed in two and paralyzed her from the neck down, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
Tracy was left paralyzed from the neck downbut she still has mobility in her arms and hands, and they had to his left eye had to be removed from the impact of the pellet.
“The stab wound in my back severed my spinal cord. I went in and out of consciousness, but I heard him call the police and say: ‘I just killed my ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend.’. I thought he killed us,” Tracy recounts.
This young woman woke up with Ricky two days later in the Tampa General Hospital (Florida). Since then Tracy underwent physical therapy to learn to swallow, eat and sit up.
“What he did to me was horrible, but you can choose to give up or play your best hand with what you’ve been dealt. “Now Ricky and I are very happy and in love. “We are conquering the world“Tracy assures us.
She took up archery by chance and before she could shoot with her shoulders, she learned to shoot with her mouth. Now she competes professionally and is ready to be part of the U.S. team for the Paralympic Games in Paris (France) in 2024.
In January 2023 his one-time partner admitted all charges and was sentenced to 40 years in Hillsborough County Court, Tampa. (Florida).
