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Josie Lou Ratley, Student Attacked at Bus Stop, Gets Trust for Long-Term Care

Josie Lou Ratley Easter Sunday with mother (WFOR)

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (CBS/AP) Josie Lou Ratley, the Florida teen who was viciously beaten outsider her Fort Lauderdale middle school March 17, will likely need extensive long-term care and physical therapy if she recovers from a medically induced coma, but a trust set up in her name will help ensure that her family will be able to provide it.

Ratley's family has received an incredible outpouring of support since the brutal steel-toed stomping, which was allegedly committed by 15-year-old Wayne Treacy. Restaurants and community leaders have put together drives for the Josie Lou Ratley Fund, and at least four events are scheduled for April, three of them during the next seven days.

The private trust was set up shortly after the attack to cover Ratley's long-term care, Rick Freedman, the family's lawyer, told the Miami Herald.

"When we set up the account, we didn't know what the extent of the tragedy was going to be,'' Freedman said to the paper. "She may need speech therapy. She may need occupational therapy. We don't know what she will need until she wakes up and talks, hopefully. And she walks, hopefully.''

Ratley, 15, continued to show signs of improvement on Easter Sunday, moving slightly in bed.

MORE ON CRIMESIDER
April 5, 2010 - Josie Lou Ratley Update: Steel-Toe Stomping Victim Shows Signs of Improvement
March 26, 2010 - Michael Brewer Visits Josie Lou Ratley in Hospital, Gives Family Hope for Teen's Recovery
March 24, 2010 - Why Didn't Anyone Warn Police Josie Lou Ratley Was Going to Be Severely Beaten?
March 23, 2010 - Hero Teacher Walter Welsh: "Sorry I Didn't Get There Faster"...but He Rescued Josie Lou Ratley from Steel-Toed Beating
March 22, 2010 - Student Victim of Savage Steel-Toed Stomping In Coma, But Her Doctors are Optimistic
March 19, 2010 - Text Messages Led To Brutal Beating of Teenage Girl, Say Cops

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