On March 8, 2005 I was awakened by a phone call from my brother Joe in Houston.  My sister Nicole had been shot by John, her husband and then had turned the shotgun on himself.  Prior to shooting himself, John had called my dad and matter of factly said, “I have just shot your daughter, and I am watching her die.” John was dead; Nicole was clinging to life.  Dr. Red Duke, the world renowned trauma surgeon, had been on duty when Life Flight had brought her in and had given her a 5% survival rate.  Adrenaline surged through my body as I frantically called Todd, my brother. 

How could this have happened? We were so close to getting her out of this horrible relationship. The next morning she was to move to Phoenix. Our dad had put a down payment on an apartment for her and she was going to distance herself from the life she was living; to start anew… Finally we arrived at the Shock and Trauma Unit of Hermann Hospital.  Nothing could ever have prepared me for the first glimpse of my sister.  She lay in a medically induced coma which lasted for weeks.  Her body was trussed up in a sling to prevent anything but her head and shoulders from touching the stark white hospital sheets.  For days she continued to cling to life, enduring countless surgeries to piece her back together and flush out the shotgun pellets that had dispersed throughout her body. She didn’t have insurance so we all pulled together during that time to raise as much money as we could. She finally pulled through after 8 weeks in the hospital and was ready to go home to my parents for months of physical therapy.

Nicole is now a kindergarten teacher learning how to live and love herself. I feel so blessed to have found such a great organization to support in TCFV where they are helping women like my sister Nicole realize that violence is unacceptable. Hope is lost when you are affected by family violence but the work of TCFV employees and volunteers, everyday, are bringing it back to those that need it most.

By Meghan Wegleitner

Meghan Wegleitner works in the hotel industry and resides in Austin, Texas.  She is the Logistics Chair for TCFV’s Honoring Women in Our Lives Luncheon.