Hello my name is Magahn, and I am a survivor of gun violence.
When I was four and a half, my father was shot eight times in front of my older sister and me. This event would go on to cause mental health issues for me further in life, causing me to try and commit suicide eight times. My father was in a medically induced coma for two months straight; I did not understand what was going on, or what happened when it did. I just know that I had night terrors every single night for years. The sound of fireworks reminded me of gunshots. I wasn’t able to function like a normal child.
My father was in a wheelchair for a couple years. They told us he may never walk again. He had to have blood transfusions constantly because he developed MRSA & staph. When my father became permanently disabled by the assault, his pain was hard to control, so he started using heroin. Eventually my dad succumbed to that same physical pain, and he coded in 2016 from fentanyl and I lost him. I share my story in hopes to prevent gun violence and raise awareness.