Alexis Rowan, 27, is just a week removed from a fight for her life — stitches out, a permanent scar as the nightmare’s lasting mark — yet more resolved than ever to live as an example of strength for the children she begged to come home to.
It was the fight over flight she learned from her mother, Tricia Rowan, a self-described descendant of boxing legacy.
“Get your daughter in MMA,” Tricia Rowan, told Fox News Digital in an interview Wednesday. “That’s what I’m signing my grandkids up for this fall.”
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Her daughter, Alexis, survived a death-defying, neck-slashing attack Wednesday, Aug. 19, in northern Arizona’s Havasupai Indian Reservation, and they are using the moment to warn women, Americans, and even their kids/grandkids (5 and 7) of what “literal screaming for your life is; that is what fighting for your life” truly sounds like.
“She is a true example of what it means to make the noise so someone comes to your rescue,” Tricia Rowan said. “Never just take anything laying down, like scream, fight and she did it. She’s a warrior.”
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Alexis Rowan admitted she needed nearly a week to rehear and rewatch the attack recorded on a nearby Ring camera, but she is resolute in using the moment now and not shielding her young children from the scars left by the shocking Arizona hiking-trail attack that nearly took her life.
“It’s, you know, right there – and especially before like I had all the stitches in it,” Alexis Rowan said. “So, of course, they look at me and it’s the first thing they see.”
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“I like my kids to be aware like just like I was always raised: You have to be aware of your surroundings; I’m not going to sit and lie to them because things like this does happen in life.
“You see it on the news, you see anything, ‘oh my God, that can never happen.’ No, it could happen, so I always tell my kids: You have to pay attention.
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“Living in New York City, always be aware, like pay attention from everywhere. Just be aware.
“Even though, yes, they are little,” she continued, “but they need to be aware that things like this can happen.
“You can’t panic. We have to think smart, make a decision… be aware.”
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The 27-year-old New York City mother was hiking through the Havasupai Reservation when she said a man came up behind her and slashed her neck after she asked him for directions to a gift shop.
Her fight versus flight sensed something was “not right.”
The man, following her at a distance, led her to call home because she was afraid, telling the person on the line that she was not safe when he asked if she was.
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“As soon as I said, ‘No,’ the man came behind me and sliced my own neck,” Rowan said, sharing a photo that showed the deep gash in her neck as Ring camera footage showed the blood flowing over her and her 60 pounds of hiking gear.
The attack became a blur, she said, as she feared she was bleeding to death.
“I was like, ‘I’m going to die. Like, I can’t die like this. Like, I have my kids to go home to. Like, they need me,’” Alexis Rowan recalled. “This is not the way I’m gonna die.
“All of these thoughts are like running through my head.”
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A woman from the nearby gift shop came outside after hearing the commotion, Ring camera footage obtained by Fox News Digital showed, frightening off the attacker and ushering her into the home to wait for help.
The Rowans called the woman who saved her life a hero. That woman in the gift shop wanted to remain anonymous. She personally knew the reservation member, and knew he was a dangerous man with an alleged history of preying on women in the reservation, perhaps why she initially came out of the door before briefly retreating.
Tricia Rowan said the instinct to fight had long been a central lesson in their family.
“It’s always about self-protection, self-awareness and never go down without a fight — whatever it takes — and always scream,” she said. “I was so proud of the warrior that she was for screaming for her life.”
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The family said the scream that drew the woman outside was the difference between life and death. Tricia Rowan initially hesitated to release Ring camera footage with sound that captured her daughter’s cries, concerned about the trauma it could cause Alexis and her grandchildren. But she said she now believes the public needs to hear it.
“People got so numb to violence,” Tricia Rowan said. “Until you hear that video of my daughter, that is what literal screaming for your life is. That is what fighting for your life is.”
She said, Alexis, despite carrying heavy camping bags and suffering the sudden attack, “is a true example” of why people in danger should “make the noise so someone comes to your rescue.”
The Rowans said their family has a history of resilience, including a line of strong women who raised children through adversity. Tricia Rowan said she also learned that a distant relative, John L. Sullivan, was a famed boxer — a fitting connection, she said, for a family now focused on teaching the next generation to defend themselves.
“Never give up a fight,” Tricia Rowan said. “Just fight for everything that you think is right.”
