This is the first in an occasional series revisiting onetime newsmakers. It has been nearly 23 months since the attack. And almost as many surgeries. Since that muggy June evening in 1999 when a 600-pound black bear tossed her about like a rag doll, Nicole Damato has learned to take things day by day.
Some days are better than others.
Some days, the West Beverly resident can walk without a cane. Some days, she can sit for more than 15 minutes at a stretch. And some days, she imagines an end to the seemingly endless string of surgeries. Still to come, doctors tell her, is more work on replacing the eight teeth that were knocked out during the attack and possible reconstructive surgery. That's not the worst of it, though.