"Deep breaths, April. Deep breaths." April Ballentine nods, steeling herself. As she sits inside the lab of the University of Kentucky's Sports Medicine Research Institute (SMRI), her anticipation stirs up an incredible amount of pure nervousness.
In 2013, April Ballentine’s ex-boyfriend shot her five times in public. Though she survived – barely – the event left her paralyzed from the chest down.
After a domestic violence assault left her paralyzed in 2013, Lexington native April Ballentine channeled her trauma into a force for good, joining the Sheriff's office to become an advocate for other victims of domestic violence. Her dream of walking again seemed impossible until a chance meeting with a UK physical therapist generated an opportunity to trial a ReWalk exoskeleton.
Fayette County deputies and Lexington Police partner with God's Pantry Food Bank to create food boxes and build relationships with Lexington communities.
Another record-setter; Lexington tops yearly homicide record
and last updated 2020-12-29 18:26:35-05
LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) â Monday s shooting death on Woodhill Drive in Lexington brought the total number of homicide s the city has investigated in 2020 to 34. The number easily surpasses last year s total of 30.
For Andre Washington, one was too many, as her grandson Mykal Waide was killed by gunfire this August. We miss him. We miss him a lot, she said. Christmas Eve was really hard for me, she said of last week s holiday.
The 34 homicides only represent less than one-quarter of the total shooting the city has reported this year. That number was in the 130s as of December 7.