Brick-attack victim Nicole Barrett has made such a remarkable recovery, she could be home in time for the holidays, a hospital spokesman said yesterday.
The 27-year-old transplanted Texan has been undergoing five to six hours of intensive therapy a day for the past 10 days in Bellevue Hospital’s 12-bed traumatic-brain-injury unit.
“The doctors are really encouraged by her progress. She is making such rapid improvement that she could be discharged in two to three weeks,” said hospital spokeswoman Lorinda Klein.
“She’s up and around, walking and talking. She’s doing really, really nicely. She has made such great improvement,” Klein said.
Barrett was rushed to Bellevue on Nov. 16 after being brutally bashed in the head with a six-pound brick in a daylight attack at 42nd Street and Madison Avenue.
A team of Bellevue specialists — including physical, speech and occupational therapists as well as a neuropsychologist — have been helping Nicole redevelop her motor and cognitive skills.
Her family has been flooded with heartfelt letters and gifts from New Yorkers, including bouquets of flowers from talk-show hostess Kathie Lee Gifford.
The outpouring of support and sympathy touched Nicole’s family. “It reaches out to us and lets us know that people are praying and thinking of us,” Barrett’s brother Scott said last month.
Nicole moved to New York last year, trading small-town Texas life for the bright lights of the big city.
She shared an apartment in Queens with some friends, and worked for a temp agency. The day she was attacked, Barrett was expecting to start a permanent job.
After she is discharged from Bellevue, Barrett will continue her recovery at a head-injury rehab center in Texas.
Meanwhile, her accused attacker, Paris Drake, remains jailed without bail on attempted-murder, assault and weapons charges.
Drake, a 36-year-old career criminal, was arrested on unrelated charges on Nov. 23 — and during a five-day Rikers Island stint, he allegedly told a fellow jailbird that he was the man wanted for attacking Barrett.
Drake was free from Rikers for barely a day before the jailbird’s tip led to his arrest Nov. 29 in the brick attack.