The RCC’s Shizue Hill
Approximately 17 years ago, I met a victim/survivor at the Lions Wound and Burn Care Center – located at University Medical Center (UMC). At the time, I was not told that she was in the center for security reasons. When I met her, she described how she was stabbed and sexually assaulted by her husband, who attacked her after she left him because of abuse.
Her husband had made arrangements to meet her and her son at a motel near McCarran International Airport. When she arrived a friend of her husband took her son, while he took her to a motel room. There, he brutally assaulted her and almost killed her. In the meantime, she affirmed she would survive. Somehow she was able to call the police even though she was tied up. She wrote her husband’s name with her blood on the bed sheets. That way someone would know who was responsible for her brutal attack.
When the police and ambulance arrived at the motel, they didn’t know which room the call was made from, so they searched for the woman around the motel. Then, she came out of the room naked, covered in blood. When the police found her, they took her to the hospital right away. But before she passed out, she told the police that her husband did this to her and that he had her son. She provided a physical description of her husband. The police found him and her son 12 minutes after the report.
Her husband’s trial took more than two years. After a long wait, the jury found him guilty of all counts and the judge sentenced him to five life sentences without a possibility of parole. She got divorced after he was sentenced and got full custody of her son.
Fortunately, she recovered from the physical injuries and she started her journey towards emotional healing. At first, Victims of Crime Compensation (VOC) denied her medical bill request – almost a half million dollars- because she only had lived in Las Vegas for three weeks and wasn’t a Nevada resident. After she appealed the denial, VOC paid her medical bills.
After the brutal incident, she did what all survivors do: she moved on. Now after approximately 17 years, her son is grown up and she is happily married to a nice man. She always said she couldn’t have made it without the assistance of The Rape Crisis Center. I have met so many victims and survivors, but this is among the most memorable and inspiring stories of survival!
-Shizue
(RCC Victim Advocate/Group Facilitator)
The Rape Crisis Center Las Vegas 
I am truly grateful for women such as these women. If it were not for all of them, I myself may not have had the will to overcome such obstacles as sexual abuse, rape and the likes. Thank you all for what you do and thanks Shizue for you moment by moment efforts of bravery in the work that you do with the Rape Crisis Center!!! God bless you all!