Children Who Survived The Uvalde Sh_ooting Now Required Money For Therapy

Many children at Robb Elementary School allegedly played dead to survive the mass shooting, which took 19 students and two teachers to an early grave. A girl reportedly smeared herself with the blood of her deceased classmate, while some made repeated 911 calls and begged for police to come to their rescue. Survivors, aged ten and 11-Years Old, had even hidden in silence and stifled their screams even when struck by bullets. 

The whole experience for the young lads is no doubt scary. It’s enough to give most children a nightmare, especially as they witnessed a massacre in their classrooms and even saw their friends and families being injured from gunshot wounds. However, some who survived the Uvalde, Texas school shooting are now depending on GoFundMe to cover the costs of their therapy and medical expenses. 

Noah Orona, 10, had been shot in the back, with the bullet exiting at his shoulder. He watched his teacher get brutally attacked while shielding her students. 

In an interview with ABC News, his parents shared that Noah described how he pretended to be dead and how his teacher fell on top of another child and died. His dad, Oscar Orona, said when he got to see his son at the local hospital, Noah apologized to him, saying: “Dad, I’m sorry. I got blood all over my clothes.” Orona claimed he had to reassure him it was OK even as she complained he lost his glasses.

A GoFundMe launched by Noah’s older sister, Laura Holcek, has said the money would go towards his physical and motor therapies and long-term cognitive care for the mental trauma of the shooting. 

It added: “Your donation will be gratefully used to help him recover from the mental trauma that has left our little guy with trying to comprehend not only his wounds but witnessing the suffering of his friends, classmates, and his beloved teachers.” As of this time of writing, the page has raised over $172,000 against its $150,000 goal.

Another, Miah Cerrillo, 11, told CNN how she saw the man enter [referring to Ramos] her classroom and shoot one of her teachers after saying, “Good night.”

She recounted seeing Ramos shoot the second teacher and many of her friends while bullet fragments stuck in her head and shoulders. She also heard screams from the adjoining classroom when the shooter opened fire. Miah and a friend had called 911 using their dead teacher’s phone, informing a dispatcher, “Please come, we’re in trouble.” 

Miah further shared she placed her hands in the blood of her dead classmate lying next to her and smeared it all over herself. She broke down in tears when telling CNN how she didn’t understand why the police wouldn’t come to help them after what seemed like hours to her. Since the incident, Miah’s hair has been falling out in clumps, and her mother alleged she couldn’t sleep. “[Miah] will need a lot of help with all the trauma that she is going through,” her mother, Abigail Veloz, said in a GoFundMe that has raised $457,139.

Abigail added: “My daughter is [an] amazing person and is a very good sister to her siblings. We will need help with her medical expenses that were caused by the bullet fragment on her back.”

Fourth-grader Samuel Salinas also survived the shooting. He recounted the event to ABC News, telling the outlet how he played dead, so Ramos won’t shoot him, and said how he shot his teacher and some kids. He explained: “I think he was aiming at me. I guess one of the chairs was there, so it blocked it, and pieces fell in my leg.” Aside from his injury, Samuel is now struggling to emotionally process the attack as he has nightmares and doesn’t feel safe going to school. 

His dad, Christopher Salinas, has launched a GoFundMe for his son’s medical expenses and emergency funds. 

Christopher wrote Samuel is in recovery and that the family’s goal is to help him get through the tragic times as healthy as possible. Another survivor spoke to Washington Post about seeing his teacher get shot. The fourth-grader identified as Daniel said his teacher had some blood on her yet whispered, “Stay calm. Stay where you are. Don’t move.” His mom, Briana Ruiz, told the outlet her son has since experienced nightmares and lost interest in his unusual hobbies. Of the 19 victims, Daniel’s cousin Ellie Garcia is among.

Community Health Development, a community center in Uvalde, has since taken to Facebook to share it was planning how to address the long-term grief of residents. They wrote: “The CHDI Family is grieving the loss of many family members in the massacre yesterday,” the post said. “We are praying for everyone as we set a plan to address the need for long-term grief counseling. We ask for your patience as we grieve and coordinate a united response to help our community.”

Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott has also promised that survivors of the Uvalde shooting would receive free mental health services, but many people are skeptical after Abbott recently slashed the budget for the state’s department that runs mental health programs. However, Daniel’s mom, Ruiz, pointed out that both mentally and emotionally, a piece of every child that witnessed the shooting left their home that morning and never came back with them.