Stabbed 32 Times, Left to Die ... Saved by Prince Charming

Happy ending for domestic abuse survivor and the EMT who saved her life
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 28, 2017 9:39 AM CDT
Stabbed 32 Times, Left to Die ... Saved by Prince Charming
The Hills on their wedding day.   (Facebook)

The first time Cameron Hill met Melissa Dohme, it was on the worst day of her life, she tells People—and earlier this month, they celebrated her (and their) best day. In what the 25-year-old describes as "a dream come true" on Facebook, the couple became husband and wife on March 4, five years after Dohme was brutally stabbed 32 times by an ex-boyfriend and left to die on the side of the road in Clearwater, Fla. Hill, an EMT, was a first responder who came upon the horrific scene and helped transport Dohme into a helicopter for a flight to a trauma center, CNN reports. She flatlined a handful of times and ended up in a coma after the 2012 attack. Still, as the chopper flew away, "I had this crazy little feeling … that I would see Melissa again," Hill told 48 Hours, per CBS News.

And they did, though not for many months, when they reunited at an event where Dohme was speaking. They started going out after that, and Hill was there by Dohme's side through her recovery, including extensive facial-nerve reconstructive surgery that enabled her to talk and smile again. "Her strength was unbelievable," Hill, 42, tells People. It was at a 2015 Tampa Bay Rays game, where Dohme was set to throw out the first pitch, when Hill made a lifetime pitch of his own, bringing the ceremonial ball out to Dohme on the pitcher's mound with the words "Will you marry me?" scrawled across it. It was "the happiest moment of my whole life," she tells 48 Hours. "Life and love after abuse is possible," says Dohme Hill, who now works as a domestic violence advocate for a Tampa Bay nonprofit. (A twist on paramedics and brides: a paramedic bride.)

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