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total hearts received for Moments That Survive

Nikki

I got the phone call in the early morning hours. My youngest brother, 24, was on life support. I needed to make the 20-hour journey halfway around the world before they turned off the machines. He had shown some friends a loaded handgun that had been given to him by his father. He unloaded it, showed his friends, and prior to going out to a local bar, had reloaded it. Either he forgot or the alcohol clouded his judgement. In an instant, standing there with a sandwich in one hand, he jokingly lifted the gun, put it to his left temple, and pulled the trigger. All I have now is his favorite childhood stuffed animal that my child, whom he never met, sleeps with every night.

Reacting shows support for gun violence survivors.

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