Uncommon courage enables victim of attack to survive

Kim Smith

Friday, Aug. 4, 2000 | 11:24 a.m.

Lorraine Mosca doesn't believe in "what-ifs." She doesn't believe in vengeance and she doesn't believe in wasted anger.

She does believe in moving forward.

Five years after suffering brain damage at the hands of a group of thugs, Mosca's philosophy has paid off.

Mosca was a 23-year-old UNLV engineering student when 25 teenagers walked into the music store where she worked and robbed it.

On their way out, one of her co-workers was punched in the nose. Mosca was punched in the head and sent crashing to the ground.

Over the next five weeks, the curly haired brunette struggled to come out of a coma as doctors cut into her skull again and again to stop the bleeding and the swelling. She also battled infection after infection.

"It was a roller-coaster ride," recalls Mosca's mother, Lucille. "We actually stayed at the trauma center because she would change so drastically from minute-to-minute. We only went home to shower."

When the news came that their daughter would live, it wasn't much of a comfort.

"At one point, they came out and said, 'She's going to live, but we're not sure what you're going to have,' " Lucille Mosca said.

When she awoke, Mosca was paralyzed on the right side, a ventilator was helping her breathe and a piece of her skull had been removed to accommodate her swollen brain.

Her parents told her she was in an accident.

"I don't remember even being at the store," Mosca said.

The last thing Mosca remembers from before the attack was her job interview with the Las Vegas Valley Water District four days earlier. The first thing she remembers after the incident is being moved out of intensive care eight weeks later.

Mosca spent the next 10 months learning everything from how to breathe again to how to swallow, walk and talk. She underwent eight hours a day of physical therapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy for weeks on end.

Lucille Mosca said she never doubted that trapped inside the damaged body was her beloved youngest daughter.

"Her eyes. I knew she was in there because of her eyes," Lucille Mosca said.

She wasn't even disheartened when Lorraine insisted on calling her "grandma" when she began talking again, Lucille Mosca said.

Mosca's most frustrating moment came six months after her attack. She was wheeled into District Court wearing a protective helmet so she could face three of the robbers as they were sentenced.

She managed to say, "I was told right from wrong" before she dissolved into tears.

"I wasn't angry with them because I don't remember that night, but I was frustrated with myself," because of her physical limitations, Mosca said.

Rather than harboring resentments, Mosca said she turned her attention toward getting well.

By the summer of 1996, she was taking a class at the community college to test her endurance and cognitive skills and by August 1996 she was taking a class at UNLV.

The water district had even held a part-time position open for her, although her dreams of working in the field had been dashed because of her inability to navigate hills and walk on sand.

It took her two years, but Mosca finished her last semester of college in 1998. She now works at Bechtel Nevada and although it's a desk job, she's happy.

Because of her paralysis and slower thought processes, Mosca said the state workman's compensation program has declared her 54 percent disabled. That doesn't mean she has slowed down though.

In addition to working full time and socializing with a small group of friends, Mosca said she puts in two hours at the gym four days a week in order to strengthen and retain the muscles on her right side.

Salvatore Mosca jokes that the only time he gets himself to the gym is when his daughter goes.

"But it's not a chore the more you do it," he added.

Mosca said she rarely thinks about the past.

"I don't think about it that often because there's no reason to," Mosca said. "It happened and I can't go backward. I have to go forward."

The Moscas said they are incredibly proud of their daughter's achievements and her attitude.

They aren't as circumspect about her attackers, however.

Andre Colon, 23, is serving eight to 20 years for striking Mosca and Rasool Ramoz, 23, and Marcus Hall, 24, won't be eligible for parole until 2002 and 2003, respectively, according to the Nevada Department of Prisons. They are serving five to 20 years in prison.

"I think they deserve to be where they are," Lucille Mosca said. "They deserve longer than they got. I remember everything that went on, so I feel the anger and the pain and I'm sorry to say I have no forgiveness for them.

"I have my daughter because she had two angels on her shoulders and because she's a fighter and she fought to stay alive. She's made me a better person. She's an inspiration for me because I don't know how she did it."