3 women who rescued sexual assault survivor receive award for their bravery
At House Three Thirty in Akron on Friday
By Remi Murrey
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AKRON, Ohio (WEWS) — At House Three Thirty in Akron on Friday, the Hope and Healing Survivor Resource Center celebrated 50 years while also recognizing Donna McFadden and Sue Victor for their bravery.
“I really didn’t want my face out there, but then the more that I would listen to Donna and the things that we did, it made me feel that yes, you need to have your face out there,” said Victor.
Donna and Sue are two of the three women who saved a 33-year-old woman at an Akron trailhead in August after the woman told News 5 that a stranger grabbed her from behind and pinned her arms to her side while out at Cascade Valley Metro Park that morning.
“We kind of started to struggle and I just started screaming as loud as I could,” she said. “I was kind on my knees, and he was on my back, and I was able to use the SOS feature on my phone,” said the survivor, who didn’t want to be identified.
Thankfully, the three women heard the woman’s cries for help and together, they rescued the 33-year-old woman.
McFadden, a 65-year-old grandmother who served two years in the U.S. Marine Corps, hit the man over the head with a rock.
Now 32-year-old Issac Armour, the man accused of sexually assaulting the woman, is being held on a $500,000 and is charged with multiple felonies, including attempted rape and kidnapping.
“It doesn’t matter where you are in life. You can help somebody. We’re grandmas, but it didn’t matter,” said McFadden.
This message is one Hope and Healing Survivor Resource Center CEO Teresa Stafford hopes to get out to the community by awarding these ladies with their organization’s ‘No Harm Award’ on Friday.
“For us, that’s the ultimate sacrifice and the level of empathy that we want everybody in this world to have. If they see something, do something, and so we felt that it was important to acknowledge their work,” said Hope and Healing Survivor Resource Center CEO Teresa Stafford.
The organization said they’re committed to continuing this work to eradicate this issue one day.
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