CARY, N.C. — Kacey Johnson was 17, a junior, when she was shot at Columbine High School during the massacre on April 20, 1999.
What You Need To Know
- Johnson was shot in the shoulder at Columbine High School in 1999
- She spent two weeks in the hospital and received a donated bone to save her arm
- Johnson has written a book to detail her experience and help others who have lived through violence heal
“It was the only time I had stayed at school at lunch that whole year, and I just happened to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time," Johnson said. "I didn’t know the boys, they didn’t know me, but I was in their way and I became a target.”
She spent two weeks in the hospital with a shattered shoulder.
“A doctor used a donated bone to save my arm, which gave me the opportunity to wrap two arms around my kids and become whole physically, which helped me become whole emotionally as well," Johnson added.
She and her family landed in the Raleigh area in part due to her husband’s job.
Johnson was picking up one of her daughter’s from swim practice when she heard the news about the Hedingham shooting.
“It just took me back to where I was before I was picked up in an ambulance, and seeing the helicopters and the trauma and the noise and remembering what that was like and how I had been thrown into this new life that I never wanted to live. I didn’t want to live as a victim. I didn’t want to live as someone who had experienced such violence. But there wasn’t a choice," Johnson said.
Johnson does speaking engagements across the country, helping others who may be experiencing PTSD or are having a hard time adjusting to traumatic and violent events.
“Bringing purpose out of the pain has brought a lot of power in the journey, and it has really given me the opportunity to choose each day to live on purpose with the opportunity to live, knowing that honors the people who no longer have that opportunity," Johnson said.