Assault victim improving, but has long recovery
GoFundMe: Joseph Julyan remains in Buffalo General since suffering a massive stroke on June 9 after an assault.
ALBION – A man who was beaten during the night of June 9 after coming to the aid of another person remains hospitalized and faces a long recovery.
Joseph Julyan, 53, suffered life-threatening head injuries after being punched several times by Wesley Askew at about 1:45 a.m. Julyan and Askew both were living at an apartment building at 175 North Main St.
Julyan tried to defend a woman in the apartment and calm down Askew, who punched Julyan so hard that Askew broke bones in his hand and wrist.
Doctors initially gave Julyan’s family a grim prognosis for recovery. Police charged Askew with attempted murder and first-degree assault. He remains in Orleans County Jail on $250,000 bail.
“The neurosurgeons told us that the damage was irreversible and there was no hope that my dad would survive,” Julyan’s daughter Rebecca said in a GoFundMe page for her father’s medical care. “If he did survive it would be in basically a vegetative state.”
Her father has surpassed the doctor’s early expectations after the assault.
He will soon be transferred to a rehabilitation program for extensive physical and occupational therapy to regain movement on his right side, which is paralyzed.
Rebecca Julyan said her father’s insurance will only cover rehab for 21 days before the family has to pay out-of-pocket costs. She is trying to raise $10,000 through the GoFundMe.
Her father has made progress in the past month at Buffalo General.
“He is currently awake, knows who we all are and is in speech therapy 5x a week,” she wrote. “They removed the life support and my dad was able to breath on his own!”
Julyan has two daughters and two grandchildren who love him.
“My dad is a cancer survivor and a fighter, probably from his time served in the United States Army,” Rebecca Julyan said. “Joe has a lot to live for and just keeps proving that miracles do happen.”
For more information on his GoFundMe, click here.
