STATE COLLEGE – Nicole Abrino, the sole survivor of the January shootings in State College that left four people dead, including the shooter Jordan Witmer, recently released a letter updating supporters on her recovery and what she has been going through.
She posted the letter on the GoFundMe page that has raised more than $15,000 toward its goal of $20,000 to help Abrino with medical expenses.
In the letter she explained that she suffered a T10 spinal injury that night. She wrote, “This has left me what was once considered by my therapist a ‘50/50 walker’ but I’m determined to be more.”
She wrote that after a month she was moved to physical therapy where she “worked so hard every day to be the best I could before I left.”
Her letter continues to describe who that day began like any other. She went to work, came home and got ready to go out.
But then the night wasn’t like any other. “I left the bar that night but I didn’t have to come back. I didn’t have to be at that spot at that very time but I was trying to be a good person. Maybe someday I’ll tell you all the details but for now that’s it. Just know, I left there “normal.” I was fine. I walked into the bar again and was lifeflighted out because I was the one who wanted to be a good person. I left my house and kissed my grandmother and told her I’d see her later, but I never got that chance,” wrote Abrino.
Abrino wrote she has been practicing stairs in therapy recently, but that it is a struggle.
In a recent Facebook post Abrino thanked Centre County Pet Recovery for finding her dog who went missing after the shooting.
In her letter on the GoFundMe page she wrote, “When I got to one hospital and was finally able to call my mom I begged her to tell my now fiancé to ‘bring Lilly, tell him to bring Lilly’. All I wanted was my dog.”
