After fighting for her life, along with months of recovery, a 1 October shooting survivor headed home from the hospital Friday. Dozens of friends and family members were at the hospital supporting Rosemarie Melanson as she discharged from Kindred hospital.
“It’s been a long journey, and I’m happy to go home today,” Melanson said.
During her stay in the hospital, Rosemarie had nine surgeries and spent 131 days in the hospital. According to Rosemarie, the amount of love she’s received during that time can’t be measured.
“The community really rallied, and showed their support in so many ways,” Rosemarie said.
The mother of four was at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival with her two daughters when the shooting began. Rosemarie’s daughter Paige describes the past few months as a long, bad dream.
“It’s been an endless rollercoaster ride since day one,” Paige Melanson said.
Rosemarie Melanson was shot in the chest, and the bullet broke a rib, traveled through her liver, spleen, and stomach. She was on life support for eight weeks.
The tight-knit family is ready to move forward….
“Trying to deal with the trauma that I went through that night and healing and watching her so much worse; It just put everything in perspective,” Paige said. “So today is just overwhelming with joy and excitement.”
Rosemarie was given a proper celebratory send-off with heart balloons, signs and a whole lot of love.
“The worst part is behind me now. Now, it’s just about getting stronger,” Rosemarie said.
Rosemarie’s husband, Steve, says the hospital stay meant a lot of missed holidays, birthday and anniversary celebrations, so he has something extra special planned for Valentine’s day.