Tanisha F.

Abused for 11 years.
Age: 36

In my case, it started as verbal abuse. I’d known my partner for over 5 years and he was a good person, I thought. He started changing around 2017. After his mother died, he bought several guns and weapons, including a machete and a shotgun. He became more combative, not only with me but with others and through his social media pages. I couldn’t do anything right.

He shot me and said, “Look what you made me do…”
We’d broken up, but we were starting to work things out again, when one morning we had a disagreement. I was in the bathtub, when he came in and shot me. I can only remember the last two gunshots. I look up at him and he says “‘Look what you made me do Nisha! You made me shoot you, you dumb bitch.”

He returned with my cell phone and I told him to dial 911. I felt as though I was dying. My legs felt prickly and numb. I didn’t realize he’d shot me in the back and I was already paralyzed.

I can remember being loaded into the ambulance and saying to the paramedic, “Please don’t let me die, I have 2 children to raise.” I spent 3 weeks in hospital. During that time around 100 people came to visit me. That’s when I realized I had a message I wanted to share.

Since then, I’ve been doing a lot of public speaking – not just about gun violence and domestic violence, but about gun control and mental health. If people are willing to listen, I want to talk about the things that matter.

My abuser was caught and arrested and now spending life in prison without the possibility of parole. With no remorse, he laughed at me in court and said I wish you had died!” But I didn’t. I survived 9 gunshots and I’ve never cried about being paralyzed. I still have pity parties, but it’s because I have to rely on others, when all I want is to be a mother again.

Thank you Dell for creating a platform such as this, so that I can hopefully be of help to someone going through what I once did. Let’s not just point people in the right direction, let’s walk with them.