Edmonton man attacked in Dominican reflects on recovery, hating egg salad

Chase Delorme-Rowan is pictured in Edmonton on Thursday, March 5, 2026. Delorme-Rowan had surgery to replace a piece of his skull, cracked in an assault while he vacationed with family in the Dominican Republic in January 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

EDMONTON — Chase Delorme-Rowan is now one year removed from an 18th birthday random resort attack that left him with a cracked skull, exposed brain and a long path back relearning how to walk, talk, eat and drink.

The 19-year-old was once a party monster and avid adventurer. He’s now into clothes shopping, working out and poetry writing.

He had hoped to study mechanics, but was told by doctors he needed more recovery time.

In an interview from his Edmonton home, he said he’s nervous now going out because, “Who knows who you meet up in public?”

It’s been a little more than a year since Delorme-Rowan and his family travelled to Punta Cana for his 18th birthday and had his life turned upside down. It was his parents’ idea to go, he said. The family stayed at a resort.

That mid-January day began like any other. He and his brother, after a day of excursions and an evening party, went for a drink at a nightclub on the resort. The pair had gone out for a smoke.

Delorme-Rowan finished his cigarette first, and he headed inside. He sat down at the bar.

“And it just goes black,” he said.

Delorme-Rowan later learned he had been lifted by the collar of his shirt, shaken, then slammed head-first onto a tile floor. It was alleged a fellow Canadian and resort guest was responsible.

Cindy Rowan, his mother, remembers the late-night phone call. “My oldest son (called), and said, ‘Mom, there’s something seriously wrong with Chase,’” she said.

So she and her husband, Dave, darted to the other end of the resort and were met by a crowd and an ambulance prepping Delorme-Rowan for the hospital.

“I’m looking at my son, and he’s convulsing, blood coming out of his mouth,” she said.

After arriving at the hospital, Rowan said her son was brought to a room and wasn’t seen by a doctor until morning. The family was told his skull was cracked from the left side of his forehead to the crown, exposing his brain.

A blood clot the size of a grapefruit had formed, and doctors there didn’t expect him to survive.

Four painstaking hours later, Delorme-Rowan came out of surgery and was in an induced coma. Doctors removed part of his skull to get to the clot and give his swollen brain room to recover and stop the bleeding.

Delorme-Rowan said his comatose world was a confusing, almost psychedelic dreamland — filled with everything from an island getaway with his favourite online influencer and scuba-diving to mundane tasks like eating and drinking.

“I remember everything (from it),” he said.

In his coma, he even rode in a helicopter with his mother after a life-saving surgery — and eventually he did in real life.

After three weeks, he was airlifted to a hospital in Edmonton. And one week later, his eyes fluttered open. In April, he underwent another surgery to have a 3D-printed plastic plate installed.

But Delorme-Rowan’s recovery journey was only just beginning. The entire left side of his body was paralyzed.

Delorme-Rowan said he practically became best friends with the team of health workers who helped him relearn everything from eating and drinking to breathing. His first piece of solid food was an egg salad sandwich from the hospital cafeteria.

But ask if he likes egg salad, he’s quick to answer: “No.”

And just last summer — despite the popular saying that you never forget how to ride a bike — he had to relearn the pedals.

“I still know (the workers’) names,” he said. “Without them, I’d still be in a hospital bed.”

Cindy Rowan said the man accused of assaulting her son was acquitted, supposedly because the family’s lawyer in the Caribbean didn’t submit paperwork on time.

After seeing more risk than reward, the family ultimately decided against an appeal. A year later, they still don’t know what prompted the attack in the first place.

But Rowan said the family hasn’t sworn off travel. They are headed to Costa Rica in January, but won’t be staying at a resort.

She said she doesn’t plan on travelling back to the Dominican Republic.

“I would never go back.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 12, 2026.

Aaron Sousa, The Canadian Press