Mindy Perez Will Be Glad to Get Husband out of Hospital
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Surgeons at St. Louis University Medical Center embedded the skull "slap" they had to remove from Jorge Perez's head into Jorge's abdomen for safe keeping until they decide to graft it back into place after he recovers from injuries from an alleged April beating in Du Quoin.
Perez has two more weeks of antibiotic treatments in the St. Louis hospital, then will finally come home, according to wife Mindy of four years. She has been with him since he was admitted to the hospital in early April after the incident at Kellerman's powder coating shop north of Du Quoin.
The man accused in the case, Shannon Wallace, faces a charge of felony reckless conduct. Court documents say Wallace put Perez in a headlock during an argument until he passed out, then let him hit the concrete floor.
In a preliminary hearing two weeks ago, prosecutors charged Wallace with an additional count of felony aggravated battery. State's Attorney David Stanton says it's the first time in Perry County where aggravated battery due to choking or strangling is being applied.
Wallace, 28, contends it's not that bad and he was only defending himself. He says he and co-worker Jorge Perez had always gotten along. However, on the morning of April 2nd at Kellerman's Powder Coating, the two got into an argument. Wallace said he responded in self-defense.
"He hit me in my mouth and then I grabbed him and restricted him into the wall," said Wallace.
When he let him go, Wallace said Perez injured himself.
"He stood up, kind of looked at me startled, stumbled over a box of paint and fell down and hit his head," said Wallace is quoted. Wallace has pleaded not guilty to both counts.
Since April, Perez has been at St. Louis University Medical Center recovering from severe head trauma.
Wife Mindy has been with her husband day and night since the incident. "He does better when I'm here," she told the newspaper Friday. She looks forward to getting him home, but says he will never be the same.
Mindy says she has had to rely on her college-aged daughter who attends SIU, Kelsey Smith, to help take care of the other children. She couldn't have done this without Kelsey. The couple was married four years ago and has seven children between them. "He wants to see his children," she said. "He can walk, eat and talk," she says. "Four weeks ago they started him on an antibiotic and he has two more weeks of that. He wears a helmet He is currently undergoing physical therapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy.
The piece of skull doctors had to remove was embedded in his abdomen so his body doesn't reject it when they put it back. "He has come a long way, but he has a long way to go," she says.
The couple has no insurance and Mindy believes the bills are climbing to several hundred thousand dollars, but doctors tell her to worry less about the bills and more about getting him back home. She says other patients cheer and clap for him when he is out walking, believing him to be a miracle patient who was somehow meant to survive this ordeal.