'I Will Come Back Stronger:' Las Vegas Shooting Victim On Road To Recovery
LAS VEGAS (CBSNewYork) -- A woman who was shot in the head during the Las Vegas massacre and was not expected to survive now has an extraordinary story to share.
In a wheelchair and with her husband, Frank, by her side, Jovanna Calzadillas was all smiles Thursday – three months after the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
"We will not live in fear," she said.
The couple was attending a music festival in Las Vegas last October, celebrating Frank's recent return from an Air Force deployment in Afghanistan, when a bullet injured the left side of her brain, damaging the area that processes language.
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"On October 1, a part of me changed that night. Even though I will not be the same old Jovanna, I will come back stronger," she said.
Doctors told her family she would not survive and were considering taking her off life support, but they never gave up hope.
"I had a dream that Jovanna visited me," said Frank. "I called her mom and I said we're keeping Jovanna alive. She's going to be alright."
The mother of two did wake up and is now learning to walk again. Her family calls her recovery a miracle.
A total of 58 people were killed and 851 others hurt during the shooting spree.