A Nightmare In Mr. Roger's Neighborhood...
if you love me you'll wanna read this <3
July 19, 1993; (then I was eight years old) had started out just like any other day during the summer; peaceful, slow and hot. I was very excited about the coming week. I was to attend my very first summer camp in Girl Scouts. I was basically all packed, we just needed to pick up a few more things before we left. One of the items being a tarp to place over myself as I was sleeping under the stars incase it started to rain.
My mother took me to Big 5 on Magnolia in downtown Riverside. We had parked in the front, right by the door, gone inside and made our purchase. As we left I had asked to go next door and get some ice cream and since I had done all of my chores my mother agreed. After getting our ice cream, we returned to our car.
It was quite a task having an eight year old, holding an ice cream cone and trying to put two seatbelts on. Meanwhile a young man came out of that Big 5 suspiciously with an unwrapped basketball. When he noticed my mother watching him he threw it in the bushes next to him and ran off. Being the amazing woman she is, my mother decides to go to the manager to let him know what she had just witnessed. However she could not go inside because she was still holding ice cream.
As she was waiting patiently outside for the manager a white car pulled into the parking space next to my side of the car. Thinking nothing of it I continued with my rainbow sherbert. A few seconds later two Hispanic men stepped out of the white car looking toward the back of it. I took a glance in the side mirror to see what was so exciting. I noticed a red minivan that was stopped perpendicular to both of our cars, just as the two men next to me pulled out 9mm hand guns and cursing half in Spanish and half in English.
The two cars full of men exchanged many shots, ironically not hitting any of their intended targets. However one of the bullets found it’s way in my mother’s direction. It was literally in slow motion in my eyes, a picture I will never be able to forget. I started the natural reaction; screaming as she reacted to being hit and started to cry intensely. The noise made the man next to me aware that I was there. At this time the red minivan started to drive away shooting toward the store the entire time. The man next to me turned, opened my door and placed the barrel of his gun to my forehead asking if I was ready to die. I said nothing, just stared at him scared, shaking and crying. He paused momentarily and at the realization of the pause his counterpart became aggravated, and joined him saying, "If you are going to do it get it over with!" After a moment of arguing the passenger screamed, "Fine!!! I’ll do it!!!"
The original man became so enraged by his friend’s comment that he pushed him away and told him to get in the car. The man looked at me pulling the gun away slightly as his eyes slightly water and says, " You’re lucky that you’re cute." Then simply walked to his car, got in , then drove away.
Seconds after the white car drove away the paramedics, police, and fire department had arrived. In shock I sat in the car screaming for my mom. A fireman came over and helped me out of the car... and gave me a little teddy bear wearing a shirt that said,"I [heart] my pal"(which to this day I still have). He then took me over to my mom so she could kiss me before I went inside to make a call informing my father of what had happened. When I came back outside my mother was all ready for the ambulance ride to the ER of Riverside Community Hospital. I rode in the front seat next to the driver on the way to the hospital, all the while listening to my mother’s screams over the sirens through the protective ear muffs they had placed on my head.
After getting to the ER they checked her vitals which were obviously not what could be considered normal. They then did a few tests to see if there was any nerve damage. As the nurse ran the cap of a pen up my mothers left foot she had asked if she could feel anything. Then as the cap reached her toes she screamed. The nurse repeated this test on her right foot, my mother screamed through the entirety of the test on the right foot. So there was still some feeling, as painful as it was. They then took pictures of the bullet hole in her side for police documentation I believe. And through this all I was standing there snuggling my new found teddy bear.
A friend of the family came to be with me until my father could make it from Santa Ana. Shortly after, he arrived with my brother Brian. Once my father got there, they continued to run more tests on my mother. They took her for a CT Scan to find out exactly where the bullet was located since there was no exit wound. A short time later, they took her directly to the OR for an exploratory surgery in which they found that the bullet had traveled through her liver, then bruised her kidney and finally went into her spine between her fourth and fifth lumbar damaging spinal nerves and falling to the bottom of her spine. After surgery, my mother was taken to the ICU. The doctors told us that she was in critical condition, and that the next 24 hours would give them a better idea of possible permanent damage and her chances for recovery.
Within the next few days, my mother underwent a bronchoscopy for a collapsed lung.
A few days later, while she was sitting up she experienced excruciating pain in her upper right quadrant. An ultrasound showed gall stones, so she was scheduled for another surgery.
While the doctors were removing her gall bladder, they realized that a bile duct in her liver was still leaking and had pooled bile on top of her liver. They had missed this bile duct in the original exploratory.
After the gall bladder surgery, my mother finally started to heal and regain the use of her legs with a lot of therapy. She was transferred to the Transitional Care Unit for a few days and was released from the hospital almost a month after the shooting. She came home and had additional therapy there.
About one month later, she needed to return to the hospital so that the neurosurgeon could remove the bullet. In the meantime, she was not allowed to lie flat on her back for fear that the bullet would move and cause more nerve damage. This hospital stay was about a week.
While my mother’s back was healing, it was discovered that she had developed a hernia from the exploratory. This meant yet another hospital stay and surgery. The doctors repaired the hernia by putting in a gortex patch. After coming home this time my mother continued to improve. She went from using a walker to a quad cane to a regular cane, then eventually to walking unaided. Unfortunately, it turned out that she happened to be one of the small percent of people that is allergic to latex. The incision just would not heal. Approximately six months after the hernia repair, she had to have another surgery and hospital stay to remove the patch.
About eleven years later, my mother is doing considerably well. She is half paralyzed from the waist down. She is able to efficiently walk, sometimes slowly yet never for long periods of time. Since then she has discovered that she has type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and a number of minute problems that are included. She rarely complains of pains even though I see her squinting from pain at least everyday, but still not a word. The doctors were in awe with her recovery, she is a walking miracle. So strong and an inspiration to everyone that comes in contact with her, and above all my best friend.
One thing that many professionals in the medical field don’t get to witness is how much they have helped not only their patient but every single person their patient meets throughout their lifetime. I’m sure the doctors and nurses that saved my mother’s life would be happy to know she continued on to help over hundreds of local girls through Girl Scouting. Making the future just that much brighter. She claims she pulled through all of this for Brian and I.
The two largest lessons I have learned is always say, " I love you," to your loved ones, you never know when that will be the last chance you get. And never underestimate a mother’s love, it could move mountains.
July 19, 1993; (then I was eight years old) had started out just like any other day during the summer; peaceful, slow and hot. I was very excited about the coming week. I was to attend my very first summer camp in Girl Scouts. I was basically all packed, we just needed to pick up a few more things before we left. One of the items being a tarp to place over myself as I was sleeping under the stars incase it started to rain.
My mother took me to Big 5 on Magnolia in downtown Riverside. We had parked in the front, right by the door, gone inside and made our purchase. As we left I had asked to go next door and get some ice cream and since I had done all of my chores my mother agreed. After getting our ice cream, we returned to our car.
It was quite a task having an eight year old, holding an ice cream cone and trying to put two seatbelts on. Meanwhile a young man came out of that Big 5 suspiciously with an unwrapped basketball. When he noticed my mother watching him he threw it in the bushes next to him and ran off. Being the amazing woman she is, my mother decides to go to the manager to let him know what she had just witnessed. However she could not go inside because she was still holding ice cream.
As she was waiting patiently outside for the manager a white car pulled into the parking space next to my side of the car. Thinking nothing of it I continued with my rainbow sherbert. A few seconds later two Hispanic men stepped out of the white car looking toward the back of it. I took a glance in the side mirror to see what was so exciting. I noticed a red minivan that was stopped perpendicular to both of our cars, just as the two men next to me pulled out 9mm hand guns and cursing half in Spanish and half in English.
The two cars full of men exchanged many shots, ironically not hitting any of their intended targets. However one of the bullets found it’s way in my mother’s direction. It was literally in slow motion in my eyes, a picture I will never be able to forget. I started the natural reaction; screaming as she reacted to being hit and started to cry intensely. The noise made the man next to me aware that I was there. At this time the red minivan started to drive away shooting toward the store the entire time. The man next to me turned, opened my door and placed the barrel of his gun to my forehead asking if I was ready to die. I said nothing, just stared at him scared, shaking and crying. He paused momentarily and at the realization of the pause his counterpart became aggravated, and joined him saying, "If you are going to do it get it over with!" After a moment of arguing the passenger screamed, "Fine!!! I’ll do it!!!"
The original man became so enraged by his friend’s comment that he pushed him away and told him to get in the car. The man looked at me pulling the gun away slightly as his eyes slightly water and says, " You’re lucky that you’re cute." Then simply walked to his car, got in , then drove away.
Seconds after the white car drove away the paramedics, police, and fire department had arrived. In shock I sat in the car screaming for my mom. A fireman came over and helped me out of the car... and gave me a little teddy bear wearing a shirt that said,"I [heart] my pal"(which to this day I still have). He then took me over to my mom so she could kiss me before I went inside to make a call informing my father of what had happened. When I came back outside my mother was all ready for the ambulance ride to the ER of Riverside Community Hospital. I rode in the front seat next to the driver on the way to the hospital, all the while listening to my mother’s screams over the sirens through the protective ear muffs they had placed on my head.
After getting to the ER they checked her vitals which were obviously not what could be considered normal. They then did a few tests to see if there was any nerve damage. As the nurse ran the cap of a pen up my mothers left foot she had asked if she could feel anything. Then as the cap reached her toes she screamed. The nurse repeated this test on her right foot, my mother screamed through the entirety of the test on the right foot. So there was still some feeling, as painful as it was. They then took pictures of the bullet hole in her side for police documentation I believe. And through this all I was standing there snuggling my new found teddy bear.
A friend of the family came to be with me until my father could make it from Santa Ana. Shortly after, he arrived with my brother Brian. Once my father got there, they continued to run more tests on my mother. They took her for a CT Scan to find out exactly where the bullet was located since there was no exit wound. A short time later, they took her directly to the OR for an exploratory surgery in which they found that the bullet had traveled through her liver, then bruised her kidney and finally went into her spine between her fourth and fifth lumbar damaging spinal nerves and falling to the bottom of her spine. After surgery, my mother was taken to the ICU. The doctors told us that she was in critical condition, and that the next 24 hours would give them a better idea of possible permanent damage and her chances for recovery.
Within the next few days, my mother underwent a bronchoscopy for a collapsed lung.
A few days later, while she was sitting up she experienced excruciating pain in her upper right quadrant. An ultrasound showed gall stones, so she was scheduled for another surgery.
While the doctors were removing her gall bladder, they realized that a bile duct in her liver was still leaking and had pooled bile on top of her liver. They had missed this bile duct in the original exploratory.
After the gall bladder surgery, my mother finally started to heal and regain the use of her legs with a lot of therapy. She was transferred to the Transitional Care Unit for a few days and was released from the hospital almost a month after the shooting. She came home and had additional therapy there.
About one month later, she needed to return to the hospital so that the neurosurgeon could remove the bullet. In the meantime, she was not allowed to lie flat on her back for fear that the bullet would move and cause more nerve damage. This hospital stay was about a week.
While my mother’s back was healing, it was discovered that she had developed a hernia from the exploratory. This meant yet another hospital stay and surgery. The doctors repaired the hernia by putting in a gortex patch. After coming home this time my mother continued to improve. She went from using a walker to a quad cane to a regular cane, then eventually to walking unaided. Unfortunately, it turned out that she happened to be one of the small percent of people that is allergic to latex. The incision just would not heal. Approximately six months after the hernia repair, she had to have another surgery and hospital stay to remove the patch.
About eleven years later, my mother is doing considerably well. She is half paralyzed from the waist down. She is able to efficiently walk, sometimes slowly yet never for long periods of time. Since then she has discovered that she has type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and a number of minute problems that are included. She rarely complains of pains even though I see her squinting from pain at least everyday, but still not a word. The doctors were in awe with her recovery, she is a walking miracle. So strong and an inspiration to everyone that comes in contact with her, and above all my best friend.
One thing that many professionals in the medical field don’t get to witness is how much they have helped not only their patient but every single person their patient meets throughout their lifetime. I’m sure the doctors and nurses that saved my mother’s life would be happy to know she continued on to help over hundreds of local girls through Girl Scouting. Making the future just that much brighter. She claims she pulled through all of this for Brian and I.
The two largest lessons I have learned is always say, " I love you," to your loved ones, you never know when that will be the last chance you get. And never underestimate a mother’s love, it could move mountains.