‘I’ve been given four bonus years’: Survivor reflects on fourth anniversary of mass shooting in downtown Cincinnati
By Todd Dykes
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CINCINNATI (WLWT) — Being on the receiving end of 12 bullets has filled Whitney Austin with both gratitude and empathy.
“I’ve been given four bonus years,” Austin said. “I think about those who lost their lives on this day and how their family members have an entirely opposite experience.”
By ‘this day,’ Austin means Sept. 6, 2018. That’s when a 29-year-old man walked into the lobby of the Fifth Third Banking Center, pulled out a gun and started firing. Three innocent bystanders died while two, including Austin, survived the mass shooting.
“This was going to be the end of my life and then, all of a sudden, it wasn’t the end of my life,” Austin said.
That’s because she was determined to see her family again.
“She had this poise about her, this determination to live as a mom,” emergency room nurse Stacey Stoecklin said. “You could just tell she was a fighter from the beginning.”
After the mass shooting, Austin formed an organization called Whitney Strong to find ways to prevent deadly gun violence. She’s also stayed connected to her care team, including Stoecklin, Cincinnati police Officer Al Staples and trauma surgeon Mike Goodman, because Austin believes safer days are possible.
“She’s absolutely having an impact,” Goodman said. “She’s having an impact more than any patient that we have had interacted with us singularly, at least over my last 19 years here at UC (University of Cincinnati Medical Center).”
“I’ve had, in some ways, a miraculous recovery from 12 bullets,” Austin said. “How is it possible that I look like this and I got shot 12 times? And I think the future is hopeful.”
Austin provided input before Democratic and Republican members of Congress passed the Safer Communities Act,’ the most significant gun law reform in decades.
Members of her team are also working in Cincinnati, doing research on safe storage of guns and on best practices when it comes to teaching people how to prevent gun violence.
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