NOT TO BE PUBLISHED

OPINION

THOMPSON, JUDGE.

Minh H. Son appeals from a Jefferson Circuit Court judgment sentencing him to twelve-years' imprisonment for assault in the first degree. He challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the jury's finding that the victim suffered serious physical injury.

Son stabbed Luu Duong in the back with a fourteen-inch knife as Duong proceeded down a staircase at a friend's house. The knife went through Duong's shoulder and exited under his armpit, near his rib cage. Duong hurried down the stairs and turned to struggle with Son, who stabbed him a second time in the abdomen. Other people at the residence intervened and called an ambulance. Son received cuts on his hand and abdomen and went home to treat his injuries.

When emergency medical technician Courtney Meeks-Maloney and her partner arrived, they found Duong lying in the yard. The fire department arrived and bandaged his wounds. There was blood around Duong and he was yelling. Meeks-Maloney removed his bandages and discovered that he was still bleeding. She checked his vital signs and noted his blood pressure was low and the lung sounds on his right side were diminished. She gave him oxygen, placed him on a spine board and loaded him into the ambulance. She reapplied bandages to his wounds, which had stopped bleeding by that time. She arranged for an advanced life support ("ALS") unit to meet the ambulance on the way to the hospital. When ALS technician Brent Schamel boarded the ambulance, Duong did not appear to be in respiratory distress, his vital signs seemed normal, and his wounds were not bleeding. Duong's systolic blood pressure decreased from 90 mmHg to 80 mmHg. When systolic blood pressure drops below 100, it is considered low blood pressure and, at 80, the blood begins to stop carrying oxygen to the vital organs and the brain. Schamel began two large-bore IV's in case Duong had internal bleeding to ensure that his blood pressure did not get too low. When they arrived at the hospital, his blood pressure had risen to above 90.

Dr. Melissa Platt examined Duong when he arrived at the emergency room at University of Louisville Hospital. She categorized Duong as level 1 on the trauma scale and had a trauma surgeon bedside when he was brought in.

She observed three stab wounds: one under his arm, one on the upper posterior shoulder region, and one in the upper-left quadrant of his abdomen. Dr. Platt assessed the severity of the wounds. It appeared that the knife had not punctured the lung or entered the abdominal cavity. Duong was given more IV fluids to assuage his low blood pressure and sent for further tests.

Because the doctors were concerned the knife used in the stabbing might have been contaminated, his wounds were not sutured. They were left open to heal and were treated with Bacitracin ointment and dressing changes. He was given pain medication in his IV's. Duong spent three days and two nights in the hospital. He was then sent home with a narcotic prescription. Although he was ordered to receive follow-up care, he did not return to the hospital due to mounting health-care costs. His girlfriend helped care for him at home. Duong was functioning normally approximately one month after the stabbing.

Son was charged with assault in the first degree and criminal attempted murder. A jury found him guilty on both charges. The trial court concluded that Son could be charged with, and found guilty of both offenses, but could only be sentenced for one offense because it was a continuing course of conduct. The trial court permitted the jury to fix the sentence for attempted murder. The jury recommended a sentence of twelve years and thirteen days.

At final sentencing, the trial court decided to sentence Son for the first-degree assault conviction instead, in order to ensure that he would not become eligible for parole before serving eighty-five percent of his sentence. This appeal followed.

In order to find an individual guilty of assault in the first degree, a jury must find:

KRS 508.010(1).

The jury instructions on this charge tracked the language of the statute:

Son argues the Commonwealth failed to present sufficient evidence to support a finding of serious physical injury, and that the trial court consequently erred in failing to grant his motion for a directed verdict.

Acosta v. Com., 391 S.W.3d 809, 817 (Ky. 2013) (quoting Campbell v. Commonwealth, 564 S.W.2d 528, 530 (Ky.1978)). The Commonwealth contends Son was not entitled to a directed verdict because it would not have been unreasonable for a jury to find Son guilty of the lesser-included offenses of second-degree assault or fourth-degree assault, which do not require a finding of serious physical injury. Jury instructions were given on these lesser-included offenses.

The record shows that when Son moved for a directed verdict, his attorney specifically stated the prosecution failed under the first-degree assault charge to prove serious physical injury and asked for a directed verdict specifically on that count. When the motion was renewed at the close of evidence, the trial court ruled a jury could find guilt under each and every count and denied the motion. The trial court also stated that Son's specific objections were preserved for appellate review. Son's objection to the first-degree assault instruction was adequately preserved for our review.

Serious physical injury is defined as "physical injury which creates a substantial risk of death, or which causes serious and prolonged disfigurement, prolonged impairment of health, or prolonged loss or impairment of the function of any bodily organ[.]" KRS 500.080(15). What constitutes a substantial risk of death "turns on the unique circumstances of an individual case." Cooper v. Commonwealth, 569 S.W.2d 668, 671 (Ky. 1978).

Son points out none of the wounds pierced Duong's chest cavity or abdominal cavities, he suffered no internal bleeding, broken bones or punctured organs, his wounds were left open to heal, he remained in the hospital for a relatively short time and received no follow-up treatment or home nursing care, and he was back to normal in about one month.

Duong received three stab wounds in his torso and lost considerable amounts of blood with the consequence that his blood pressure dangerously dropped. Had Schamel not acted quickly and administered two large-bore IV's while en route to the hospital, Duong's organs and brain could have been deprived of oxygen. The fact that he was promptly and expertly treated "before he bled to death does not change the life threatening nature of his injuries." Brooks v. Commonwealth, 114 S.W.3d 818, 824 (Ky. 2003). Simply because the victim did not die and was fortunate enough to recover from his injuries, does not erase the fact that he faced a "substantial risk of death." Cooper, 569 S.W.2d at 671.

The Jefferson Circuit Court did not err in instructing the jury on first-degree assault, and its judgment is therefore affirmed.

ALL CONCUR.