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PORTLAND — A Farmington woman who police say was shot in the face by her boyfriend June 17 is recovering from emergency surgery conducted that night.

Michaela, 29, of Farmington kisses her daughter, Ivy Swan, 11 months, in this undated photo taken prior to June 17, when police say Michaela was shot in the face by her boyfriend in Farmington. Courtesy photo from Michaela’s family

Michaela, 29, had hardware put in place in her jaw and her tongue reconstructed after the shooting earlier in the day at 513 Fairbanks Road in Farmington, the victim’s sister, Sara Richards of Pennsylvania, wrote in an email.

The victim approved the Sun Journal using her first name in the story, Richards said. The newspaper does not name victims of domestic violence or sexual assault without their permission.

Gunthar S. Swan, 26, is being held in lieu of $500,000 cash bail at a Farmington jail on charges of attempted murder and domestic violence elevated aggravated assault.

Swan, the father of Michaela’s child, is accused of shooting Michaela after she told him she was leaving and taking their daughter to live in Wyoming with her mother.

Attorney Daniel Dube of Lewiston has been appointed to represent Swan, whose next scheduled court date is on Sept. 26 in a Farmington court.

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Doctors told the family the shooting caused extensive damage, including shrapnel and bone fragments, and that the bullet remains in Michaela’s neck, Richards wrote in an email. Two other sisters drove all night on June 17 from West Virginia to be with their sister at a Portland hospital.

Richards said her sister, who is on a feeding tube, has been getting medication for nausea, but doctors had to cut back the tube feedings because the swelling is too great, Richards wrote Monday. Other than that, she is comfortable.

“They said her attitude has been great but emotional,” Richards wrote. “They have been getting her up and moving around some.”

Cognitive checks were done Wednesday to make sure all her motor functions were intact.

Michaela is able to shake her head yes and no to the nurses’ questions, Richards wrote. She can write and communicate on paper. She has been asking for our mother, Richards wrote.

Michaela “sobbed uncontrollably for her baby daughter, Ivy (Swan), who will turn 1 on July 21,” she wrote.

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They are keeping her less sedated and she and is more aware of what is going on.

She kept writing that, “She didn’t think he would shoot me” and crying for Ivy, Richards wrote.

“She is working very hard and is such a fighter as she wants to be safe with Ivy in our mother’s care.

Maine’s Child Protective Services is involved, and Ivy has been put in temporary foster care.

“Ivy has been dragging around her sleeper that she was in the day it all happened because it smells of her mother, so it’s her comfort right now while she’s under (Child Protective Services) care,” Richards wrote.

Richards and their mother, Carla Noonan, have started a GoFundMe page to help with medical and other expenses, including getting Noonan to Maine from Wyoming.

“We, as her family, want nothing more than to be there for her and support her and Ivy by any means necessary” Richards wrote.

Donna M. Perry is a general assignment reporter who has lived in Livermore Falls for 30 years and has worked for the Sun Journal for 20 years. Before that she was a correspondent for the Livermore Falls...