Kylie Ossege, 19-year-old who survived two school shootings, thanks NYC doctors who treated her
NEW YORK - It would be traumatizing enough to survive one school shooting.
Kylie Ossege, 19, has survived two.
Ossege was in New York City Tuesday to thank the doctors who treated her.
Ossege was in her first school shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan in 2019. Four of her classmates were killed. The shooting left her temporarily paralyzed when a bullet pierced her collarbone and went out her back.
"I was hitting my legs, and I couldn't feel my legs, because at the time I didn't know but my spine was affected," Ossege said. "I was just kind of laying in the school helpless for 15 minutes."
After emergency surgery, and months of rehabilitation, Ossege still suffered from debilitating back pain. In July, she came to the doctors at Lenox Hill Hospital for spinal fusion surgery, and returned Tuesday to thank them and stress the need for gun prevention.
"I think by sharing my story, it's a wake up call, in a sense," Ossege said.
Guns have become the leading cause of death for U.S. children and teens.
In fact, just 14 months after getting shot, Ossege was a freshman at Michigan State University when another shooter opened fire on campus.
"This is preventable. Firearm safety counseling from a doctor to a family, violence prevention. These things are evidence based, but we have not actually acted on them," Northwell Health's Center for Gun Violence Prevention Dr. Chethan Sathya.
"We are more worried about medical records getting into the wrong hands or if God forbid someone saw her x-rays. That's more dangerous than the shooter? That's just crazy," Dr. David Langer of Northwell Lenox Hill Hospital said.
Ossege said it's the thought of the four classmates she lost that powers her to keep fighting on.
"I feel like I can talk to them everyday and know that this is what they would want me to be doing. They would want me to take care of myself. They would want me to continue to spread positivity, and advocate for safer gun laws," Ossege said.
By encouraging the country to start viewing gun violence as a public health issue rather than a divisive political one.
