DRs Try to Take Woman Shot in Head off Life Support. Husband Refuses, She Wakes Up
Jovanna Calzadillas, 30, was among the scores of people whose lives were forever changed on Oct. 1.
She was attending the now infamous Las Vegas concert with her husband when gunman Stephen Paddock executed the deadliest mass shooting in American history.
Calzadillas was shot in the head, and her prognosis was grave. Doctors gave her husband, Francisco ‘Frank’ Calzadillas, the agonizing option of removing his wife from life support.
Frank Calzadillas, an officer with the Salt River Police Department in Arizona, decided to place his trust in God and keep Jovanna alive.
“Her gunshot wound was severe, but we as a family left it in God’s hands, and here she is,” the officer beamed, looking proudly at his wife.
Doctors admitted Jovanna’s prognosis was not optimistic, and have since called her recovery “nothing short of miraculous.” Jovanna has been at a Phoenix hospital for the past four months, making a slow, often frustrating recovery.
In a press conference, Jovanna showed tremendous strength and fortitude as she flashed a brilliant smile and told her story.
The brain injury she sustained has affected Jovanna’s language, but she spoke with great determination and resolve, showing off just how far she’s come.
“I will not quit on them,” Jovanna said of her family, including two children ages 11 and 3. “And I will not quit on myself.”
“I feel strong and positive, plus I get to boss my husband around,” she grinned. Jovanna admits she is now a changed woman, but she’s undaunted by the future.
“On October 1st, a part of me changed that night,” she confessed. “Even though I will not be the same old Jovanna, I will come back stronger.”
Jovanna had powerful, encouraging words to say to everyone affected by the lunatic gunman Stephen Paddock, who forever altered so many lives on that night.
He gets no victory — he does not get to control her future.
“We will not let people like him win,” Jovanna asserted. “We will not live in fear.”
After four months in the hospital, Jovanna is now recovering at home with her family.
She is prepared to take her life back, and with a loving community by her side, will be unstoppable in her recovery.
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