Drug Deal Leads to Attack, New Life for Victim

Adjusting to a New Life With Foster Family

In the years that followed, Brittney underwent hundreds of hours of counseling and physical therapy, without her sister by her side.

Beau and Monique Maestas pleaded guilty to murdering Brittney Bergeron Himel's younger sister Kristyanna in 2003. Brittney was left paralyzed from the waist down in the same attack.

(Las Vegas Police Department)

"It was hard," she said. "It was weird, because I didn't have her there and sitting there, you know, always laughing with me. ... She always followed me and wanted to do everything I wanted to do."

Still missing her sister, Kristyanna, Brittney adjusted to life as a paraplegic.

Brittney now needed special care and parents who could take care of her and meet all her medical needs. That's when one of Nevada's award-winning foster care parents stepped in.

Judy and Bill Himel have fostered more than 30 medically fragile children, including infants and children with severe problems and no place to go.

The electrician and housewife had seen a news report about Brittney and knew they would be getting a call from the Department of Family Services asking if they would take her. A few days later, Brittney had a new home.

Bill Himel said the transition wasn't easy. "When she first came, she was scared. She left the light on, the TV on, the door open," he recalled.

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"The reason I was afraid of the dark was always because I was afraid that it's going to happen again," Brittney said. "That, you know, someone was going to come get me."

As time went on, Brittney grew stronger and more confident. She began to trust her foster parents. "I slowly started to learn that, you know, I'm safe. Nothing was happening."

Soon, she felt ready to expand her horizons. Brittney heard about a sporting event for handicapped kids and asked Judy to take her. She went and it changed her life. "It opened my eyes," she said. "It made me think, you know, wow, I can actually do things. I'm not just in a chair. It's not like I can't do anything. I can still do everything anybody else does. "

The 16-year-old now says she feels just like everyone else. "I go to school like everybody else, I hang out with my friends, I go to the movies, I talk on the phone, I text."

An accomplished athlete, she has competed in more than 15 states in track and field, and hopes to make it to the Para-Olympics in London in 2012. She doesn't limit herself to track, and has also tried tennis, basketball, swimming, skiing. Last summer, she became a certified scuba diver in the Cayman Islands.

"So this damaged, frightened child that we were given to, to take care of, now is this independent, outgoing, spirited young lady," Bill Himel said. "Not only do we struggle to keep up with her, I actually think we're riding in her coattails."