A brave mum claims she had to "play dead" to save her kids when her ex brutally stabbed her eight times and left her paralysed from the chest down - and all because he "didn't want her to be with anyone else".
Brittany Morris had been in an "on and off" relationship with her boyfriend Rondell Raman Malveaux for three years after falling pregnant with twins the first time they were intimate.
After three tumultuous years, the 31-year-old told him the relationship was over but says Malveaux turned up at her house in the middle of the night and stabbed her eight times with a kitchen knife.
The attack, which happened in August 2019, left the mum paralysed from the chest down and fearing she would die in front of her terrified toddlers.
She says she pretended to be dead so that he would leave without harming them.
But miraculously she survived and is now fighting to regain her independence by getting an adapted vehicle and driving licence to be able to transport herself and her two young sons.
Malveaux was sentenced to 20 years in prison but Brittany still fears he could be eligible for parole much earlier than that - leaving her worried for her safety.
Brittany, from Beaumont, Texas, US, said: "I saw his shadow trying to get in my bedroom window with the knife.
"He kicked the front door wide open. I walked him outside and sat in the chair on the porch and he just yelled at me.
"He was like 'so you're done with me, this is it?' and I said yes and then he just started stabbing away right into my neck to the spine and so I was paralysed instantly.
"I was awake the whole time so I remember everything."
She added: "It was never in my mind to run - I had my kids there and I didn't want him to do something to them to try and hurt me. My sister and nephew were there as well.
"I used the last energy I had to lunge forward at him and that's what made him run off.
"I was just praying that God wouldn't take me in front of my children because my kids were right there in the doorway when he ran off and they saw him.
"I thought about where my kids would go and just thought I have to stay here, I have to be here to take care of them."
After stabbing her four times in the neck as well as in her back, hip, side and face, Brittany says Malveaux ran off, taking all of the phones from the home to prevent her calling the police.
The mum says she was forced to play dead when he returned minutes later and demanded her car keys from her sister to allow him to flee faster.
Brittany's sister was forced to knock on neighbours' doors until someone answered and called an ambulance, which rushed her to Christus St Elizabeth Hospital, in Beaumont, Texas.
After allegedly crashing Brittany's car, Rondell was arrested and charged with aggravated assault under the category of family violence.
"When he ran off my sister came outside and my sons came to the doorway," said Brittany.
"One of them said 'mommy that's daddy' and I said 'I know, go inside' and told my sister to close the door - I don't even know how I got the energy to speak.
"My sister was trying to help me up but I couldn't move. My left arm dropped in front of me and I had no control over it.
"I told my sister to throw the knife in case he came back - and he ended up coming back to get the keys to my car.
"I had to play dead for a few minutes while my sister gave him the keys so he would leave.
"He took our phones so my sister had to knock on everyone's door until someone was able to call an ambulance for us - I don't know how long I was waiting to get help."
Brittany says she and Malveaux were childhood friends that grew up in the same area and went to school together before her family moved to Los Angeles, California.
And after moving to Arkansas in late 2015, she says the pair reconnected online and started talking before she visited him in their home town in Texas, where they ended up being intimate and she conceived her twin boys.
The pair then went through an "on and off" relationship for three years, from 2016 until Brittany finally called it quits in August 2019.
Brittany said: "The relationship was on and off. I tried to keep my family together. The last words I told him were 'I'm done fighting for the family now'.
"Once I said that it was over and I was done with him, that's when he came to find me and tried to kill me because he didn't want me to be with anyone else."
The violent attack left the mum-of-two paralysed from the chest down and in ICU for a month, followed by another four months as a hospital in-patient.
The latter four months were spent undergoing respiratory therapy to recover from being on a ventilator for three months, as well as physical therapy.
Brittany suffered an incomplete spinal injury, meaning the spinal cord had been damaged but not severed, meaning the nerves could repair and she could regain some movement.
In March 2021 she underwent surgery at Memorial Hermann Texas Medical Centre to fit a Baclofen pump - a means of administering a muscle relaxant to deal with the spasticity caused by her spinal injury.
After undergoing further physical therapy, Brittany has so far regained movement and strength in her arms but the very limited movement in her legs means she is forced to use a wheelchair.
Brittany said: "When I got to the hospital I couldn't speak anymore and they had to put me on a ventilator.
"My spasticity was so strong by the time I got to therapy that they couldn't really do anything for me so I had to get the Baclofen straight away.
"I just started thinking about what I have to do to get my independence and wanted to mentally move forward.
"I'm still trying to rehabilitate more. I have a little movement in my legs but I have to do a lot more therapy."
Malveaux was convicted of felony aggravated assault and sentenced to 20 years in prison at Jefferson County Court in Beaumont, Texas, in March 2020.
The mum says he will have the possibility of parole after 10 years, leaving her concerned for her safety and that of her children and meaning she thinks she will be forced to move out of the area.
She is now striving to move forward in her life and find work, having graduated with an associates degree in occupational safety in May this year.
She also recently passed her first driving exam in an adapted vehicle, with handles for the accelerator and brake pedals, and is working towards achieving a driving licence.
A charity specialising in helping victims of crime has offered to cover the costs of adapting a van so that Brittany can drive her wheelchair up a ramp and straight into the driving seat.
The mum is now fundraising the $18,000 cost of a second-hand van to be able to move forward with the charity and achieve her goal of independence.
Brittany said: "For years I've driven my wheelchair everywhere - to school, to get groceries, to take my children to the park.
"You can't do much without transportation because you have to rely on people. I have to get back to driving.
"I'd be able to find work and do more therapy because I'd be able to transport myself.
"I also wouldn't have to depend on people to drive my children to school or do things for me."
To support Brittany's fundraiser, press here.
