CLEARWATER, Fla. — Melissa Dohme, who was nearly killed after her ex-boyfriend stabbed her 32 times in 2012, now faces the remnants of her trauma as her childhood home undergoes a transformative renovation, symbolizing a hopeful new beginning for Melissa and her mother, Joann Dohme.
Melissa was viciously stabbed in the front yard of her childhood home.
“Looking back on this journey,” Melissa said, “there's one thing that has always really bothered me. And I've held that grief and that weight of my mom and her pain. And you know, if you could just make one person see their pain go away, you want to, you know, your mom, that protector.”
Melissa has since moved out, gotten married, and became a domestic violence prevention advocate. However, this childhood home has been difficult for Melissa and her mother, Joann, who still resides there.
“Still to this day, flashbacks sometimes, but I redirect myself, and I tell God to remove it,” said Joann. “And instead of me saying, 'Oh, that's where that was. That's where she laid. That's where the blood was, etc.' I say, 'That's where God took care of her and that's where she got care.'”
Joann Dohme was a single mother and a nurse for 44 years. She didn’t have the money, time, or strength to repair her home.
She was saving for retirement when she felt her first symptom of rheumatoid arthritis. "I didn't know what it was, and it just continued to escalate! It went to 17 joints in two months. So I was in excruciating pain," Joann said.
With that unexpected illness, her plans to remodel were once again put on hold, as she needed time to heal.
Meanwhile, Pastor Kirk Carey leads Abundant Life Ministries church in Largo, where Melissa, Joann, and many others attend service.
When he learned about Melissa’s attack, Joann’s sickness, and their deteriorating home, the pastor asked his congregation if they could help and begin a new initiative at Abundant Life Ministries.
“I just felt like we have all these resources now that have been developed over the last couple years, let's engage directly in our community now!” Pastor Carey said. “Not just at a disaster, not just at a hurricane. Let's do more than what we've been doing. Let's let's try to really stamp out domestic violence. Let's say that this is wrong. Let's say this is not right, and let's put our faith into more action.”
Attending the same church was a woman named Julie Weintraub, with Hands Across the Bay.
She brought Melissa on board to become an advocate for change.
“Her bravery, how many lives she's changed and saved with her work,” Weintraub said. “I could not be prouder of her and any investment I've made over the years, and being her mama bear or her mentor has paid off tenfold. She inspires me, and I'm so proud of her.”
Over the years, Weintraub got to know Melissa’s mom, Joann. She also became worried about Joann’s physical health and mental well-being.
“She just looked so broken,” Weintraub said. “She looked so hurt and so wounded. You imagine, as a mother, how you would feel if someone stabbed your daughter 32 times? It's something that's very difficult to get over.”
Weintraub truly believed Joann deserved a helping hand, after all she had been through. That’s when an army of angels from the Abundant Life Ministries church began stepping up.
“Mission to Serve is a disaster relief organization,” said Dennis Drolet, the director of Mission to Serve. “We focus on 100% volunteer disaster relief. And we usually follow after storms and help those that can't help themselves.”
Drolet offers outreach to the community throughout the year, involving church members. He felt it was a blessing to offer his resources to manage this project.
“It's not about one person,” Drolet said. “It's not about one organization. It's about everyone working as a team, making it work.”
So they started remodeling the house. But before the new construction began, Melissa and her family helped tear down the old walls. And the painful memories were destroyed one strike at a time. They said it became therapeutic to physically work through the trauma that the home still represented.
And so many others helped eliminate the past, so the future of healing could begin.
When the remodel was done, Weintraub believes more miracles will follow.
“They can move forward to a new and better life full of blessings and know that our past doesn't determine our future,” Weintraub said.
Melissa is forever grateful for all the blessings she and her mother received. “I hope we're out of this project that we will have a family dinner here and a Christmas here again,” Melissa said. “And that is what I look forward to, is being able to be a family again in my home where I grew up. I mean, this is where all the memories, because there's good ones too.”
Joann, almost speechless in tears, thanked everyone who was working to make this new house a home again. “How could somebody bless you beyond measures?” Joann asked. “But I would thank them and tell them that I pray for them and that God blesses them, as they blessed me.”
If you or someone you know is in a domestic violence relationship, help is always available. You can call the Florida Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-500-1119.
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