“Suddenly, I heard a gunshot and felt intense pain in my stomach. I couldn’t feel my baby moving anymore. The last thing I remember, I was being wheeled in for an emergency c-section, all eyes on me. When I finally saw my daughter, I could tell she was fighting. In my arms, her body started to fade to purple. ‘When you finally say enough is enough, she will be put to rest.’ Still, I held her through each breath. I was at a complete loss of words.”
‘Please! I’m pregnant!’ My front door kicked open. There, in my living room, stood a man with a gun.’: Woman loses baby to stomach gunshot wound in robbery, ‘I spent 8 beautiful days on Earth with her’
‘I got a message from a stranger offering condolences for my fiancé. My heart raced. I had NO IDEA what was going on.’: Deputy paralyzed in shooting, girlfriend embraces his ‘new normal’ with open arms
“I knew I needed to be wherever he was. I raced upstairs, put on clothes. After several unanswered phone calls, Jamie’s sergeant picked up. ‘He’s been shot in the back.’ He was paralyzed from the sternum down. The news didn’t hit until I had to relay it to my parents. I can’t make his pain go away. I can’t make his legs move again. But what I can do is love him.”
‘Katie, Katie!’ Bullets pinged. I had a death grip on my friend’s hand. No way in hell I was letting go.’: Route 91, Las Vegas Mass Shooting survivor shows ‘random acts of kindness,’ ‘we will NOT let him win’
“We always want to know where the nearest exit is. Our minds are forever thinking of an escape plan. The triggers can hit when we least expect it. But I won’t let HIM win. It took us a while before we picked ourselves up and got back to doing what we love to do: go to concerts. WE win. Love wins. Kindeness wins.”
‘Am I ever going to walk again? Will I survive this?’ I couldn’t see it coming or avoid it. I never saw the man who did it. I just felt the shattering vibration in my leg and collapsed.’
“There was no fight, no scuffle. Just bone-crushing shock. For years, I imagined him as every man I saw – walking down the street, opening my office door, pushing through a crowd. Every victim I heard about on the news was me – helpless and broken – life as they knew it taken from them in one moment.”
