Jan 7, 2009 6:21 am US/Eastern
86-Year-Old Defiant Following Brutal Knife Attack
Despite Multiple Stab Wounds, Vivian Squires Leaves Hospital Just Days After Being Butchered In Own Home
Tough Little Old Lady: "If I Had A Gun, He'd Be Gone"
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Just two days after being sliced and diced by a burglar inside her own home, Vivian Squires, 86, left a hospital and vowed to live her life.
CBS
Vivian Squires is 86 years old.
On Sunday, before dawn, a burglar broke into her bedroom and when she awoke, he put a pillow over her face and pulled a knife.
But she fought back. She was cut everywhere. But as you're about to learn, on Tuesday she went home. And CBS 2 HD learned a lot more about the courage of a remarkable woman.
Two days ago, Squires was rushed to Mary Immaculate Hospital in Queens with multiple stab wounds to her neck, chest, and back. A burglar had broken into her bedroom. But just to see – and hear – her Tuesday was in itself a miracle.
"We tussled and tussled and landed on the floor and I was still fighting him, trying to remember all the things I'd seen in the movies, and grabbing him," Squires said.
"Maybe my prison experience came back. I spent 21 years as a correction officer. If I had a gun, he'd be gone."
She didn't have a gun, but he had a knife.
"Why did I fight him? Because something was telling me I was dying when I was feeling the blood gushing out and I said, 'No, Vivian, it's not time to die. You got too much to do,'" she said.
"Senior citizens," we say. "The elderly," as though they're on the margins. Not this lady:
"When you get old you have a tendency to want to sit in the chair and rock and just feel old, and I don't have time for that," Squires said.
No. She doesn't. Instead, she's home.
Look out world: Vivian's back.
The suspect escaped with Squires' purse and car keys, stealing her 2004 Chrysler Sebring. But she's undaunted. Squires said Tuesday: "It was time for a new car anyway."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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