{"id":63729,"date":"2025-12-17T22:29:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T22:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/63729\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T22:29:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T22:29:14","slug":"scranton-machete-attack-survivor-on-the-path-to-healing-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/63729\/","title":{"rendered":"Scranton machete attack survivor on the path to healing"},"content":{"rendered":"

SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) \u2014 For many, December 9 marked a horrific and tragic night\u2014one that changed families\u2019 lives forever. As FOX56 reported <\/a>late last week, the deadly machete attacks at the Jermyn Apartments in Scranton left two people dead and one survivor. <\/p>\n

At the time, 66-year-old Marilyn Waller was reported to be in critical condition at Geisinger Community Medical Center<\/a>. We\u2019ve learned she is now continuing her recovery after suffering serious injuries. <\/p>\n

Waller is surrounded by the support of her family, friends, and the community.<\/p>\n

With her family by her side, her daughter, Marissa Dankulich, said it\u2019s nothing short of a miracle that she\u2019s still here.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe phone call was like, the worst thing ever because I called and was like \u2018Hey, if a Marilyn comes in\u2019 and they call me back, and my husband had to take the call because I just started screaming, just waiting and not even knowing if she was going to live, because the only thing they told us was she had cuts on her hand. And then we got there, it was a lot, lot worse. She shouldn’t even be here right now,\u201d said Dankulich.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on her mother\u2019s recovery, Dankulich said Waller\u2019s strength shines, especially in her deep bond with her cat, Bubbles. Even after everything she\u2019s endured, her concern for others continues to come before herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen she was in ICU the first night, she had a ventilator, the nurses were saying, \u2018You can talk to her.\u2019 She’s not going to hear or remember you. My mom actually doesn’t even remember it. But I knew the thing that she was going to be worried about most was her cat. And the moment we mentioned the cat’s name, her eyes shot open and she just started shaking her head. So, I told my husband, \u2018We have to go there.\u2019 As much as I didn\u2019t want to. I’m like we have to go there and get that cat,\u201d said Dankulich.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t know what happened. But from speaking with my mom, she heard someone yell, people have fallen before. She checks on people. And that’s all she did was open her apartment. So, she never once even thought about herself,\u201d said Dankulich.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd she even told me like, \u2018Don’t worry, Marissa, this is a mommy problem, not a you problem. Stop missing work for me,\u201d said Dankulich.<\/p>\n

Dankulich said the strong support from the community has been a source of comfort not only for her, but for her entire family.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people that I don’t even know have been messaging me, just praying for my mom, telling me to tell my mom they hope she gets better. A lot of people that she went to high school with that she knew at one point, even people that I haven’t personally seen since middle school who just remembered my mom being around,\u201d said Dankulich.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s so many people that just are coming together, and it’s sad, but how it’s happening, it’s helping her. It’s helping me. It’s helping the family right now, seeing how many people do care. Even last night, she did insist on taking a picture of us for me to post, because she wanted people to see that she was okay,\u201d said Dankulich.<\/p>\n

Waller underwent three major surgeries, and Dankulich said her recovery and current condition are remarkable.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was in ICU for a few days, PCU, but I can say that she’s actually on a normal medical\/surgical floor now. Her recovery is a miracle, giving the fact that most of the blood in her own body isn\u2019t even hers from how much blood she had to get from being at death’s door. Today\u2019s a week later, and being on a normal floor now, and out of the ICU,\u201d said Dankulich.<\/p>\n

Dankulich received an update this afternoon and told FOX56 that her mother is expected to be transferred to a private rehabilitation facility in the coming days, where she will continue her recovery. <\/p>\n

Dankulich has also started a GoFundMe,<\/a> where she is raising support not only for her mother’s medical bills but also for her basic needs as she recovers. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) \u2014 For many, December 9 marked a horrific and tragic night\u2014one that changed families\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62874,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":{"0":"post-63729","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-scranton","9":"tag-scranton-headlines","10":"tag-scranton-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}