Judy Malinowski and her daughters.Photo:Judy’s Foundation
Judy’s Foundation
Bonnie Bowes still remembers the last words she ever said to her daughter,Judy Malinowski.
Judy, a former homecoming queen who later in life survived cancer, was “friends with everybody” she met, her mother says in this week’s issue of PEOPLE.
Bowes, 60, details her daughter’s determination to cling to life so that justice could be carried out againstMichael Slager, the man responsible for the deadly 2015 attack.
Bowes says her daughter “said she was tired” after two years in the hospital, seven resuscitations, and more than 50 agonizing surgeries to keep her alive. “She hung on for me, her girls, and for justice,” her mother says, recalling her final days.
Judy Malinowski testifies in court.Eric Albrecht-USA TODAY NETWORK
Eric Albrecht-USA TODAY NETWORK
Judy died from organ failure in June 2017 as Bowes held her hand one last time.
For more on Judy Malinowski’s heroic testimony from the grave,subscribe now to PEOPLE,or pick up this week’s issue, on newsstands Friday.“I said, ‘A part of me will go with you, Judy.’ I said, ‘And a part of you will always live here with me,’” Bowes says. “And I said, ‘I’ll hold your hand until Jesus takes your other hand.’ “
Ten seconds after Bowes let go of Judy’s hand that her daughter stopped breathing, she says.
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“We tried, but she had overcome all the odds,” Bowes says. “They had told her that she had superseded the odds.”
Michael Slager.Franklin County Common Court
Bonnie Bowes, Judy Malinowski.Columbus Dispatch-USA TODAY NETWORK
Columbus Dispatch-USA TODAY NETWORK
And Judy’s family carried on the fight, Bowes says. Her daughters Kaylyn and Madison, sister Danielle Gorman, brother Patrick Bowes, and mother Bonnie came together to push for tougher legislation in Ohio for assaults using an accelerant that leave victims seriously disfigured. And on September 7, 2017, Malinowski’s family stood together at the Ohio Statehouse as “Judy’s Law” was officially enacted.
“She showed unbelievable strength,” Bowestold PEOPLEdays after her daughter died. “I really don’t know how she did it.”
If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go tothehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
source: people.com
