A year later, young victim of Bucktown baseball bat attack cannot walk or talk

In the year since the brutal beating of their once exuberant daughter, Liam and Sheila McShane have spent their days waiting. Waiting for the moment when their daughter gives them a small smile, or the moment she can lift a teacup or, most often, waiting for the moment when she gives them a look with her eyes.

In Natasha McShane's deep brown eyes, her parents search for clues to what she might need. "On a good day, you might communicate better," says Liam McShane. "If you said something, you might get a response with the eyes. If she opens her eyes wide, it might be a yes."

It might be, or it might not.

"Some days she'll be there, and she sort of like knows us," he continues. But other days, it can feel like she is not there at all.

Saturday will mark one year since Natasha McShane and her friend Stacy Jurich were attacked in Bucktown by an assailant who bashed their heads and snatched their purses.

A bright, bubbly 23-year-old, McShane bore the brunt of the beating and suffered head injuries that have left her unable to walk, speak or dress herself. She is at home now in Northern Ireland, where she sleeps in a bed in the living room of her parents' house and, during the day, sits silently on the sofa or in a wheelchair.

"It's hard to believe that it's a year on," Liam McShane said by phone from their home in Silverbridge, County Armagh. "We thought we'd come home and get the (surgery), and she'd make a big improvement and she'd get better. But nothing like that happened."

Natasha McShane had come to Chicago as part of a study abroad program. On April 23, she and Jurich were celebrating an internship that would allow McShane to extend her time here. They were walking home at 3:30 a.m. when they were struck by a mugger with a baseball bat.

Within a week, police arrested Heriberto Viramontes, 32, a reputed gang member, and Marcy Cruz, 26, who allegedly waited in a van and smoked a marijuana-stuffed cigar during the attack.

While Jurich escaped with lesser injuries, McShane struggled to regain basic motor functions. By July, when she left Chicago by air ambulance, she had begun to eat again, to walk with assistance and to speak a few words.

In Northern Ireland, surgery to replace a section of skull led to serious infection, and she regressed quickly. By the time the family took her home in February, she had lost the ability to speak and walk.

Today, the jailed Viramontes and Cruz each face 25 felony counts, including attempted murder and armed robbery. A trial date has not been set.

Meanwhile, McShane's family waits for a recovery that might never come.

"She's not as good today as she was when she left America," her father says.

Despite the struggles, Natasha's grandmother, Bernadette McShane, says she is grateful for the gift of survival.

"The big, big thing is that we still have Natasha," she says. "That's the most important thing."