When I was 18 years old, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Visiing friends, I was in my car with my best friend, When a drive-by shooting happened. I was shot on the left side of my head.

The first thing I remember was thinking I would be ok, you can't see your head, though :). Little did I know how hard this was going to be. I was in a coma for 9 days, the ICU for a month and 2 weeks at a rehab hospatal. I had to relearn everything, swalow, walk, talk, read, ... The most challenging thing was my speech, I had Aphasia. That is the loss of abilaty to expess words and feelings. Very frustrating. I was in PT, OT and Speech therapy for a while, speech for about a year. I was starting with sounds, and didn't even reconize the alphabet. It was a long time before anyone could undrsand me. I have no feeling on my right side st all. But... I worked exctrely hard, my goal was to look and sound 'normal'. Most people don't know about the shooting, thats fine by me.

Honestly, the medical part was ok to deal with, We had to deal with the Homecide detecteves, my friends forgetting about me, and the guy that did it was nowhere to be found. No evidence at all, and it is 7 years after the shooting- the Statutes of Limitations are now up. There is nothing I can do about it. It's ok, though, I have always known that what comes around, geos around. I am ok with that, now. The 'friends' that we were visiting were not good guys, and they will not tell me why I was shot or who I took that bullet for. Again, what comes around, goes around, it has started to happen. As far my best frind, she abanded me in me time of need. I see now that she was never a true friend anyway, but it hurt.

It's all ok now, I am a mother of a young child, am mairied, and I am grateful that it has all happed. I am a better person, by far. Thank you God for that lesson!

Amy.

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