Gerald and Debbie Russell weren't able to hold hands on Valentine's Day as they reclined on adjacent beds in the trauma unit at OhioHealth Grant Medical Center. But the high-school sweethearts, both 43 and married for nearly 25 years, weren't allowing their injuries to spoil the romance of the day.

Gerald and Debbie Russell weren�t able to hold hands on Valentine�s Day as they reclined on adjacent beds in the trauma unit at OhioHealth Grant Medical Center.

From their fingertips to their elbows, their arms are heavily wrapped in bandages to cover the wounds they received when a man armed with a machete attacked them and others at a Northeast Side restaurant on Thursday night.

But the high-school sweethearts, both 43 and married for nearly 25 years, weren�t allowing their injuries to spoil the romance of the day.

�Someone was asking what Valentine�s Day was going to be like for us,� Mr. Russell said. �I told them, �I�m going to be sitting next to Debbie the whole day. What could be better than that?��

The Johnstown couple is thankful to be alive and grateful for Grant surgeons who spent hours repairing tendons, arteries and nerves in their hands and performing microsurgery that appears to have saved two fingers that nearly were severed from Mrs. Russell�s left hand.

>> Restaurant involved in machete attack will reopen Monday morning

They were just finishing their gyro dinners in the front booth at Nazareth Mediterranean Cuisine at about 6 p.m. when Mohamed Barry, 30, walked into the restaurant, raised a machete and began hacking at Mr. Russell. When his wife stood up and screamed at the attacker, Barry turned the machete on her. The couple managed to flee the restaurant � Mr. Russell out the back and Mrs. Russell out the front � and can�t fully explain how they escaped with their lives.

Neither realized that they were being attacked with a machete. Both thought they were being struck with a club or baton. Even while assessing their injuries after taking refuge in a carpet store next to the restaurant � �my fingers were dangling,� Mrs. Russell recalled � they were surprised to hear that a machete had been used.

The first blow struck Mr. Russell on the top of his head with so much force that he was staggered and doesn�t remember much other than pushing the attacker away and heading for the back door.

�The blade must have been sideways,� Mr. Russell said. �There�s nothing on my head but a bruise. I probably should not be alive.�

Barry also attacked William Foley, a musician performing at the restaurant, and Neil McMeekin before he was chased away by a restaurant employee with a bat and a patron flinging chairs, Columbus police have said. The Russells were gone before seeing anyone intervene.

Foley, 54, was in critical but stable condition the day after the attacks, but the hospital is no longer releasing information about his condition. McMeekin was treated and released.

Barry was shot and killed by police after fleeing in a Toyota Corolla and reportedly charging at officers with a machete and knife during a traffic stop about 5 miles from the restaurant.

The 1990 graduates of Westerville North High School haven�t given much thought to their attacker.

�I don�t feel anything about the guy,� Mrs. Russell said. �He made the decision he made. We didn't do anything to cause it. Do I think he got what he deserved? If you go after the police with a machete, yes.�

Mr. Russell said he initially was unhappy when he heard about Barry�s death.

�I wanted to know why� he attacked us, he said. �But the more I thought about it, I really don�t need to know why. It�s irrelevant. It meant something to him, but it means nothing to me.�

They hope to be released from the hospital this week and will get plenty of help from their sons, ages 19 and 23, before beginning lengthy sessions of physical therapy.

�I�m not going to be bitter,� Mrs. Russell said. �My husband is OK, I�m OK. We�re going to make it. If we�re a few fingers short, we�ll still be sitting next to each other till the end.�

jfutty@dispatch.com

@johnfutty