The tourist stabbed on Front Street last year is likely to be on medication for the rest of his life ? unless the pain gets so bad surgeons have to fuse his spine together.

But Scott Jable is just thankful he is alive to hear his two-year-old son, Cole, learning to talk. "I go into his room every morning and he says, 'Hi Daddy', and I think I came within a centimetre of never hearing those words."

Mr. Jable was shopping with his wife and son in front of the Bee's Knees on Front Street on the morning of October 28, 2002 when he was suddenly attacked from behind. The six-inch knife narrowly missed his spine, and Mr. Jable was airlifted to a hospital in his home city of Chicago that same day.

Lorenzo Robinson has been charged with the crime and pleaded not guilty last March. His trial was due to begin in April.

Though at first he and his wife were unsure he would survive the ordeal, Mr. Jable appeared to be healing well until complications developed around Christmas and it was revealed his spine had become infected. Mr. Jable averted life-threatening surgery then, and went on a round of antibiotics to fight the infection.

Now, more than a year since the stabbing, Mr. Jable has been told he will never be fully recovered. When the bones healed from the infection, he said the top bone healed with a spur coming off it. The bones will always be arthritic and the disc between the two has degenerated.

Mr. Jable will be on anti-inflammatories for the rest of his life which, even with insurance, cost around $3 per day. "I'll take them until the pain gets so bad they will have to fuse the spine together," he said. "But it may never get to that point."

Physically Mr. Jable says he misses small things, like being able to go jogging with his wife. "I miss being out in the open air... I haven't tried golf yet, I'll try that in the spring, but the twisting motion is what bothers me so I have a feeling that won't work out."

Emotionally, he said he and his wife do find themselves thinking how close he came to death. "It does cause you to appreciate just about everything else," he said. "Every time my wife and I have a romantic dinner we just toast the fact that I am here."

Mr. Jable and his family remain impressed with Bermuda's attempts to rectify the nightmare. In June he and the family returned to the Island and were treated as royalty, he said, on a trip organised by Bermudian Clayton Price, and they still keep in touch with staff at the Bee's Knees and the Pickled Onion, as well as Mr. Price and his family.

Despite their love of the Island and its people, Mr. Jable admitted he and his wife suffered a few attacks of nerves on their return to Bermuda, particularly as they revisited the spot where the attack took place. "But we love Bermuda, we always had," he said.

The Jables will return to Bermuda for the trial. "It's not something we are looking forward to," said Mr. Jable. "It will be a very emotional time for us.

"Whether good or bad, there will always be a connection with Bermuda that will never leave us. But we are so thankful to everyone who was so kind to us, especially when we came back."