A Chicago restaurant is raising money for a cook who is now recovering from life-saving head surgery.
Chicago Police are investigating a 9-1-1 call placed on July 1, after Ashley Pruneau was found in the 800 block of North California bloddy with head trama.
Pruneau told police she arrived home after work and was attacked by a lone unknown man. She said she tried to reach for a hammer to defend herself, but the attacker got to it first and savagely beat her and left her for dead.
"It's every girl's nightmare to be home alone and have someone come in and, you know, hit you, and beyond hit you, just attack you with a hammer, I mean, chase you and leave you," said Jill Barron, owner of Mana Food Bar, where Pruneau works.
Barron first suspected something might be wrong when she arrived at the restaurant and found a task Pruneau had been assigned to do had not been completed.
"I came to work on Sunday and Ashley was supposed to actually put some flowers in this patio area, and it hadn't been done, and I thought 'Well, that's kinda weird,'" she said. "And then someone knocked on the door and flashed a badge."
Workers at the restaurant miss Pruneau's "disposition and expertise," said Barron.
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They have also set up a fund, hoping to raise money for Pruneau's recovery.
"We want to, you know, just give her a little ease of mind and know there's people here who care about her," Barron said.
The website adds Pruneau's friends are trying to "let her focus on her recovery, not on how she will pay for it."
As Pruneau recovers with her family in Ohio, she will need at least one other surgery, according to her doctors. Her mother says she is recovering well, but is just beginning to speak and has limited use of her right arm.
