BILLINGS — It was last Monday when 14-year-old Laurel Nomee was rushed to Billings Clinic after she was attacked and shot in the head. She was then flown to Children’s Hospital in Aurora, Colorado on Tuesday. Thankfully, she’s recovering and is expected to be okay, but the family needs the community’s help.
“She’s very outgoing. She’s very strong. She’s a very loving person,” said Nomee’s mother, Marvina Rides Horse on Saturday.
For Rides Horse, this last week has been the worst of her life. She got the phone call late Monday night when Nomee was already in the hospital, that a Billings man attacked and shot her in the head just south of the city.
“She’s still in the ICU due to a lumbar drain in her back, and as soon as that’s taken out then they’ll move her out of ICU,” Rides Horse said.
Nomee has fractures in her jaw, nose, and across her head. But despite those injuries, Rides Horse said she surprises everyone with her recovery process.
“Her progress is way ahead of what the doctors expected,” Rides Horse said.
It’s a great sign considering that Nomee is still in the ICU.
“She’s really fighting to talk, she’s really fighting. She wants to get up and walk and she wants to do all of these things,” said Rides Horse.
Nomee’s mind is there, but she just can’t speak.
“She does gestures and stuff and when we ask her, she’ll head nod and all of that. Yea, she knows exactly what she wants and how to explain it to us,” said Rides Horse.
But the family’s thankful for the community’s well wishes.
“People have been reaching out and just sending their thoughts and prayers and everything and I appreciate it,” Rides Horse said.
For now, all she can do is support her daughter as she recovers one day at a time.
“She knows God and if she didn’t, we wouldn’t be this far. We wouldn’t have made it this far, she wouldn’t have made it this far without him,” said Rides Horse.
The family is hoping for the community’s help with medical bills. You can support by donating to Rides Horse’s Cash App account or through Facebook Pay. Her Cash App username is $NenaRae6 and you can find her on Facebookhere.
