Teulon rallies around survivor of Vegas attack

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This article was published 03/11/2017 (2952 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Manitoba woman shot in the stomach in the Las Vegas mass shooting last month is finally home, just in time for a social in her honour.

All 500 tickets sold out in six days for the Teulon event tonight for Jan Lambourne, who was released from hospital Thursday.

But whether Lambourne, who requires a walker as part of her recuperation, will attend is a question mark.

“We are not sure. It depends on how she feels,” said Linda Greig, the social’s organizer and Lambourne’s friend for more than 20 years.

“She really wants to, so hopefully she’ll be well enough to make an appearance.”

Her husband, Joe, who frequently works out of the province, will be there.

Lambourne and friend Jody Ansell were at the Route 91 Harvest country-music festival in Las Vegas on Oct. 1 when a man sprayed gunfire into the crowd from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, across Las Vegas Boulevard.

He killed 58 people and wounded more than 500 others in the largest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Ansell was shot in the wrist and Lambourne was hit in the abdomen; the bullet tore through her intestines and broke her pelvic bone.

Ansell was able to run and flagged down a car to take her to safety. Lambourne, who was badly hurt and bleeding heavily, managed to get to an area where she was able to take cover under a flipped-over wheelbarrow. She underwent an emergency operation to remove shrapnel. She spent a week in a Las Vegas hospital and was then moved to a Winnipeg hospital.

The 42 staples used to close her stomach were removed less than two weeks after her surgery.

The bullet remains lodged in her pelvis but doctors don’t want to remove it unless they absolutely have to, Greig said. “They figure it should heal around the bullet.”

Greig said the recovery has been, and will continue to be, a long, slow process for her friend.

“She is doing pretty good and it helps being at home,” Greig said, adding Lambourne reacted badly to some painkillers, forcing doctors to keep changing her medication until they hit the right combination.

She cannot be alone yet because of mobility issues, so her mother is staying with her, Greig said.

Lambourne purchased travel insurance before the trip, but there could be costs not covered under the policy for her treatment in the Las Vegas hospital that exceeds $200,000, which is where the social’s proceeds will come in, Greig said. And Lambourne, a self-employed hairdresser, has lost significant income and doesn’t know when — or if — she’ll be able to return to work.

“She felt bad because she didn’t do some haircuts that were scheduled,” Greig said.

“That’s the kind of person she is. She’s an awesome person, very caring, very loving. She worries about everyone, all her clients, all the time.”

Lambourne has begun physiotherapy and her therapist is encouraged by her progress, Greig said.

“She’s got a lot of support. Everyone talks to her every day by text or whatever.”

A social is also being organized for Ansell in Inwood on Nov. 18.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca