TW: Gun violence survivor
Hello everyone! My name is Brittany and I’d like to share my story. As you can see from the title, I am a gun violence survivor. On October 25, 2022 I was shot seven times by a man I did not know. I was on my way home from work when I noticed a truck two cars behind me driving into oncoming traffic. The driver then sped up and swerved back into the correct lane (my lane) and slammed on the brakes, making me rear end him at about 15-20mph. He then immediately got out of his truck and fired nine shots into my car. I was hit seven times. He did this unprovoked. He was caught and has been in jail since the assault. Three of the bullets went through my right arm, severely fracturing my elbow and the other four bullets went through my abdomen nearly killing me. I was hospitalized for 22 days, spent 12 days in the ICU, and 8 days on a ventilator. I woke up on the third or fourth day in the ICU and was told all of my injuries: injury to the inferior vena cava, severely fractured right elbow, 3 broken ribs, damage to my liver, stomach, spleen, and injuries to large and small intestines. The worst of my injuries was the one to my inferior vena cava, the biggest vein in the body. Typically, people with this injury don’t survive. Another injury that was significant was the damage to my spleen, it had to be completely removed. The spleen is apart of the immune system, so now I have to be even more careful in my everyday life because it will take me longer to recover from illnesses and infections, if I were to contract them. Of course I now have PTSD, but I’ve been doing the work for a few months now and I’m able to enjoy life again. Although this was the worst thing that has ever happened to me and my family, a lot of blessings have come from it.
