268,558
total hearts received for Moments That Survive

Lauren

I was just a girl headed to the last night of a three-day music festival when my life was changed forever. On October 1, a gunman opened fire on us at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas. I understood the sounds when I looked down and saw the woman who had been standing next to me all night, on the ground with a wound in her head. I still don’t really understand how my aunt and I made it out of there that night. I saw and heard so much that will haunt me forever. Every day I wake up and live with fear and guilt. The Borderline shooting took me to my knees. So many of our Route 91 family were there living through their SECOND mass shooting. How is it that we live in a society where it’s the norm to survive multiple mass shootings? Why aren’t we doing anything to change it? I used to hear about these things on TV, but I still believed the world was a safe place. After living it, I know that the world isn’t safe at all. I don’t think you ever really heal from something like this. You just learn to survive with it.

Reacting shows support for gun violence survivors.

268,558