Philly Native Injured In Pulse Nightclub Shooting Reflects One Year Later
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It's been a year since the shooting rampage in Orlando's Pulse Nightclub that left 49 people dead. Dozens more were wounded or injured. Three of the victims were from the Philadelphia area. One of the survivors spoke about her status one year later.
"I didn't know that I could hold it together so well," said Patience Carter. "I learned a lot about myself throughout this entire experience."
Carter was 20 years old when she was shot in the leg during the Orlando massacre. She had gone to Pulse nightclub with friends Tiara Parker and Akyra Murray. Carter and Parker both made it out alive, but 18-year-old Akyra did not survive.
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Carter grabbed the national spotlight through her eloquent poem on survivor's guilt, an emotional wound she still carries.
"Some days I feel more and some days I'm just totally desensitized to everything that I see," she explained. "If I'm not numb, I may breakdown, I may not be strong."
And then there are questions about that night.
"I'm a little angry sometimes when I think about how many ways could this have been prevented," Carter said. "Where is the security, I'm like there are so many things that have gone through my mind throughout this year."
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But physically, she is healed.
"I'm walking on my own now," Carter said. "It's like a huge improvement, which has transferred over into how I feel emotionally. I just feel like I am a lot stronger now."
Carter just finished her junior year at NYU and she has an internship at Paramount Pictures in Los Angeles.
And while she continues to move forward, she'll never forget the day that changed her life forever.