WEST FARGO-Like many domestic violence victims, Keith Peterson put off getting help, over and over again.

Related: "The Current" with Emily Welker on domestic abuse to men

That all changed after he found himself lying in a Fargo hospital bed last July, covered in gashes and stitches from 13 stab wounds suffered in a knife attack at the hands of his then-girlfriend Carly Ann Lacey at a Minnesota campsite.

The 10-month road to help hasn't been easy.

"I lost everything," said Peterson, including his health, his job, his home and his relationship with Lacey, whom he almost married several months before the slashing. "But I've gained so much more. I got everything back."

listen live watch live

Some skeptics have asked why, at 6 feet 6 inches tall, he didn't defend himself against Lacey, 32, who is a foot shorter. Peterson said it isn't in his nature.

"It comes down to love," he said. "I loved her enough to not hurt her."

Peterson was in Grant County (Minn.) District Court Monday at what he hopes will be Lacey's final court appearance. A judge sentenced her to another five-plus years behind bars for first-degree assault.

In exchange for her plea, attempted second-degree murder charges against Lacey were dropped. Peterson is far more comfortable with that deal than with a prior proposal that would have spared her prison time for 20 years of probation.

"I want her to get help," he said. "With the first plea, there was no guarantee of help. She would be right back drinking again."

Lacey and Peterson were both drinking heavily the night of July 26 before the assault that left him with a near-fatal slice to his carotid artery, lingering nerve damage and post-traumatic stress disorder.

It wasn't the first episode of violence between the couple. An incident the preceding Valentine's Day in which Lacey bit Peterson in the nose-also while drinking-was the first time she agreed to get help, he said.

But when the treatment program they chose was full, she didn't follow through. He admitted he didn't, either.

Lacey apologized for the slashing in a letter to Judge Charles Glasrud. Peterson said she told the court she doesn't recall any of that night.

But Peterson remembers-in panic attacks, flashbacks and night terrors, the most recent of which happened Monday night.

"I freaked out everybody who lives with me," Peterson said, including his two young daughters who live with him at his new home in West Fargo, where he relocated for a new job and to be closer to his doctors.

It also puts him closer to the Rape and Abuse Crisis Center in Fargo, where he sees counselors each week. Peterson encourages other domestic abuse victims to do the same.

"Get help. Talk to somebody," he said. "Friends, family, a psychologist. You have to get help for yourself, you can't force another person to."

Lacey's attorney could not reached for comment on this story.