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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Beaten with a hammer in a case of mistaken identity in Vancouver last fall, 21-year-old Alex Sparling lost an eye and his sense of smell - but he hasn't let that stray him off the path he set out on when he moved there from Yellowknife.

Alex Sparling was back from Vancouver to spend Mother's Day in Yellowknife last weekend. Last fall he was the victim of a brutal, random assault in Vancouver that cost him his right eye and sense of smell. - Tim Edwards/NNSL photo Editor's note: Yellowknifer reporter Tim Edwards is friends of the subjects of this story, and was living in the Vancouver home during the attack last year - though asleep in his room. He caught up with his friends recently so they could share their story with the community they consider home.

"Twenty-one years old is far too young to give up on acting just because I get taken out with a hammer," said Sparling with a chuckle.

"There was a couple nights where I couldn't sleep because all I could think about was what had happened, and running through all the 'what ifs' in my head. I was angry, I was depressed," he said.

"I mean I was just like, I can't act with one eye. I put so much time, so much effort, and got so much support from my parents to do acting. As if a bigger fork in the road could have presented itself to me. So I spent the first two days in a hole.

"After two days of that, I realized there's no sense in keeping up that attitude. I was going to keep acting. I had to make changes, I had to move past it. It wasn't like I said anything to myself or had a moment of clarity, I just stopped."

Sparling had left Yellowknife to attend the Vancouver Academy of Dramatic Arts in early 2008, and to pursue an acting career in Canada's film industry hot-spot.

After a Thanksgiving party, the house he lived in with several friends from the NWT at 3263 Matapan Crescent was invaded by four masked men, one of whom had a gun and another a hammer - a hammer which was used to smash the right side of Sparling's face, destroying his right eye and heavily damaging his olfactory glands.

Due to the trauma, and lingering intoxication from the party, Sparling doesn't remember any of the events leading up to the assault. The details of the night were provided by another roommate who was the only other person awake during the incident.

"It would be inhuman of me to not be angry, but I'm really just confused about it. I'll probably go my entire life without ever knowing why (they attacked me)," said Sparling.

He said that the loss of an eye has affected his life less than he thought it would. He now sports a glass eye.

"My depth perception is off, but I'm getting really used to that - I play a drinking game with my roommate sometimes where he wears an eye patch and we sit on either side of the room and we both have a beer in our hands and throw a tennis ball back and forth and if you don't catch it, you have to drink," he said.

After graduating high school, and before the assault, Sparling got involved with several student productions to build up his resume, and was getting good feedback from auditions and his agent for his comedic talent. Today, he is still auditioning during his spare time for any parts he can get.

Sparling is currently taking a general studies course in Vancouver and living with a good friend, but will be back in the North to work over the summer.

Shane Targett was the only other roommate awake when the masked men were in the house.

"It was Thanksgiving and we'd been eating and there was so many dishes and Alex was cleaning the dishes, and I was supposed to be cleaning up miscellaneous (stuff) around the kitchen," said Targett.

"I was talking to Alex while he was doing the dishes and I was still drinking and I got to the point where I was blacking out, so then I'm like 'dude, I gotta take a leak, I'll be right back' and I just stumbled in (to the living room) and just passed out on the couch, almost instantly."

Targett was woken up with a smack to the ankle with a hammer. There were four masked men standing there.

"They say to me 'you (mess) around, you're gonna end up like your friend' and I'm like 'whoa, this is serious' and they drag me off the couch and into the kitchen, beside Alex," said Targett.

"That guy who had the hammer, he was ruthless. He was hitting my back, my knees, my ankles, my arms but he never got me in the head.

"They drag me in, next to Alex, and Alex is so incoherent on his hands and knees, blood everywhere, and I'm looking over at Alex while these guys are ransacking around our house and the guy on my back is saying 'you better look down man, or I'm gonna shoot you in the ****ing head.'"

The invaders asked Targett if his name was Joseph and if he had their drugs, and Targett managed to keep a cool enough head to calmly tell them to check the ID in his back pocket.

Eventually, Targett said, the masked men must have realized they had the wrong house and they left after stealing a few iPods that were on the table and Targett's camera.

"Then after about a few seconds, the door closes, and I try to wait as long as I can - it was about 20 seconds, 30 seconds max that I wait after the door closes, and then I got up and look at Alex, make sure he's breathing. Then I go to (my roommate's) room, kick in the door because it was locked and tell him to call 911."

Targett took a counselling session days after the incident, set up by former Yellowknife resident Penny Ballantyne - the mother of one of the roommates in the house who helped the group immensely in the aftermath of the incident, paying for hotel rooms, buying meals, and providing emotional support.

The masked men were never identified.

After counselling, Targett decided it would be best for him to come back to Yellowknife and spend time with his family. Then Sparling returned to Yellowknife with his mother after he was out of the hospital.

Both of them were confronted with a myriad of strange rumors upon their return.

"I didn't mug a drug dealer, didn't bring a hooker home and her pimp followed us," said Sparling, laughing.

Some of the rumors, though, hurt Sparling more than the hammer.

"For (Targett) to be the only one who remembered what happened, to actually have to talk his way out of getting as hurt as badly as I did, with a gun to the back of his head.

"To not be able to tell me what happened before he left Vancouver because he needed something happy, to go home to Yellowknife and meet his nephew for the first time. And then to be back in Yellowknife and hear (rumors around town) that it was his fault. God, that made me so angry. That's what upset me."

Sparling said though rumors were running wild around town, the support he received from, not only his family, but the whole community was overwhelming. He deeply wanted to thank everyone for their support.

"I came back for Christmas right after it happened," said Sparling.

"I didn't want to leave my house to go for a walk because I knew I'd get stopped by a dozen people asking me how I was and if I needed anything. People I probably met once when I was five and hadn't seen since, were legitimately concerned."