ESMERALDAS, Ecuador - Two Bend residents traveling in South America were attacked in Ecuador last week, and one's health remained in jeopardy Monday, according to his family.

On Tuesday, the family reported that the couple had left Ecuador and had landed in Florida for refueling. They were expected to reach a medical facility in Loma Linda, Calif., Tuesday afternoon.

Britt Leis, 35, was stabbed 18 times between his neck and small intestine during the attack Thursday in the coastal community of Esmeraldas, said Shawn Leis, the man's stepmother, in a phone interview from her home in Sisters, Ore.

His fiancee, Lia Koehn, 24, was also assaulted but did not require hospitalization. She was able to get help for both of them.

"Lia is fluent in Spanish," Shawn Leis said. "By the grace of God, she's a medical translator. Before they left, she was working for St. Charles Medical Center. We couldn't have asked for a better companion in this situation."

On Monday, Koehn posted this update to the couple's blog.

"Britt and I were brutally attacked last Thursday," she wrote. "His condition started out as very serious and has gradually gotten even more so. He is in intensive care following three surgeries, and before the last one, last night, I was informed by the head surgeon that there is no certainty that he will survive. That being said, he was conscious and talking last night, and I have continued to be amazed by his strength."

The family hopes to hear soon that Britt Leis is in the air from the capital city of Quito to Loma Linda Medical Center in California, where his sister is on the medical staff.

"His condition worsened over the weekend," said Tom Towslee with Sen. Ron Wyden's office Portland. The family has been talking with the office about the situation.

"Apparently he's developed some infection from his wounds," Towlsee said. "His father desperately wants him to get life flighted back to the United States. The important thing is we're going to get him back to the United States and get him some proper medical care."

The couple had set out to spend six months to a year amongst the people of South America and hoped to find a way to help the people, Shawn Leis said. She believes other Americans were targeted on Thursday, though that was unconfirmed.

"When they were set out on a journey of hope and help, gave up their jobs, saved their money -- that's really hard," Shawn Leis said.

According to the State Department Web site, at least 10 U.S. citizens have been kidnapped near Ecuador's border with Colombia since 1998.  One U.S. citizen was murdered in January 2001.

"The U.S. Embassy in Quito advises caution when traveling to the northern border region of Ecuador, to include areas in the provinces of Sucumbios, Orellana and Carchi and northern Esmeraldas," the site says.