Banff assault victim 'everyone's daughter'

In an attempt to raise donations for medical care, the Ottawafamilyofa womanleft brain damaged in a sexual assault last year in Banffis asking a court to liftapublication ban that it requested.

The woman'sfather said he hopes a Calgary judge will lift the ban, allowing the family toshowthe 21-year-old'spicture and tell her story.

'Now we feel it would be in our best interests to identify Julie if it would help people identify with her and open up their hearts.' -Julie's father

Julie, as she is known, isin a long-term-care hospital in Ottawa.The brain damage has lefther in a vegetative state, unable to speak, and her father believesa special treatment in Florida ata cost of about $230,000 to $340,000 Cdn may help.

"Now we feel it would be in our best interests to identify Julie if it would help people identify with her and open up their hearts," he said.

Family members requested the publication ban to protect them from the media after Julie was brutally assaulted in July 2005.

She was found partially clothed and injured in a town park after being attacked on her way home from a party at a Banff bar.

At the time, she was six weeks pregnant, engaged and working at a hotel in the popular Alberta tourist destination.

Albert George Muckle, originally of Kenora, Ont., was captured and convicted. He was declared a dangerous offender in July and has been imprisoned indefinitely.

Family still hopes for recovery

Doctors have said Julie will likely never recover from the attack, but her family still has hope.

Her father described the first time after the attack that he noticed his daughter responding when he spoke to her.

'I think a picture of Julie will endear her to people more readily than someone who remains anonymous. That's just human nature.' -Julie's father

"She moved her head... and she let out a big sigh [asif tosay] 'Someone knows, someone believes that yes, I'm in here and I'm trapped.'"

He said he believes hyperbaric oxygen therapy, provided by a doctor in Florida, may be able to help "free" Julie.

The treatment involves putting patients in a chamber under higher-than-normal atmospheric pressure, allowing high concentrations of oxygen to dissolve in their blood. It's not covered by provincial or private health insurance.

"I think a picture of Julie will endear her to people more readily than someone who remains anonymous,"Julie's fathersaid. "That's just human nature.

"Just by her picture you can see that this girl is a beautiful soul who wouldn't do anything to harm anyone, and this should never have happened to her, or anyone like her,"he added."She's everyone's daughter."

He said he hopesa judge willlift the publication ban in the next week or so. In the meantime, the family is accepting donations through TD Canada Trust.