Tina Frost (right), an accountant, took a bullet in the eye after mass murderer Stephen Paddock unloaded hundreds of rounds on crowds enjoying the Route 91 Harvest festival on October 1
A 27-year-old woman who was shot in the head during the Las Vegas massacre has left hospital just in time for Christmas.
Tina Frost, an accountant, took a bullet in the eye after mass murderer Stephen Paddock unloaded hundreds of rounds on crowds enjoying the Route 91 Harvest festival on October 1.
She was in a coma for nearly two weeks after the bullet shattered the bones in her forehead, damaged the frontal lobes of her brain and forced her to have an eye removed.
But now the San Diego resident, who was raised in Maryland, has walked out of a rehabilitation center to enjoy the holidays with her family and boyfriend Austin Hughes.
Her mother, Mary Watson Moreland, has written on Facebook about her daughter reaching a ‘HUGE milestone’.
She said Tina ‘will have several days off from all of the doctors, nurses, therapists, dieticians, technicians and everyone else who knocks on her door ‘every five minutes’.
Mary added: ‘She can enjoy her family and friends and some normalcy and doing some more on her own. We will continue therapies on an outpatient basis and she continues to get a lil stronger and better every day.’
Now the San Diego resident, who was raised in Maryland, has walked out of a rehabilitation center to enjoy the holidays with her family and boyfriend Austin Hughes
The mother also said that, despite being ’emotional these days’, the family is helping her to acclimatize to ‘non-hospital life’ as smoothly as possible.
She added: ‘The power of being strong, courageous, patient and determined by Tina along with Austin, all her family, friends and supporters like you will keep this uphill marathon of a miracle moving in the right direction.’
Back in October the family spoke of the moment Tina first came out of her coma.
Mary wrote then on her GoFundMe page – which has raised over $600,000 for Tina – that her daughter was making progress.
She said: ‘She sometimes taps to music and also took her first steps today with the assistance of the nurses – 3 steps to the chair and 3 steps back to the bed.
‘She’s obviously anxious to get her wobble back on.’
The attack (memorial pictured) left Mary with bullet fragments in her brain. But now she has left hospital and is going home for Christmas
Tina was with her boyfriend Austin when Paddock, 64, opened fire from his vantage point on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel.
The certified public accountant was struck in the head by one of the bullets fired at the 22,000 festival-goers.
The certified public accountant was struck in the head by one of the bullets fired at the 22,000 festival-goers
The round lodged itself in her right eye socket, also damaging the brain matter behind it.
The bullet shattered the bones in Tina’s forehead, and damaged the frontal lobes of her brain, Dr Keith Blum told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in October.
He removed as many fragments as he could and cut away some of the bone so the brain could swell without causing further damage.
Her survival was ‘miraculous,’ he said.
Mary also told the paper: ‘She’ll have pieces of the bullet in her brain forever. But her vitals are stable. And she’s breathing on her own a little. Sometimes she hears me when I talk and squeezes my hand.’
Her mother also spoke of the moment she first left her coma.
‘She opens her left eye just a lil and looks all around the room at us, taps her feet whenever music is playing, continues to squeeze our hands, and even gives Austin a thumbs up when asked.’
Hughes said shortly after the shooting that she was still conscious after she was struck by the bullet but they got separated when she was rushed to hospital.
She was put into a medically induced coma following her surgery.
He was subsequently able to locate her as her family rushed to the emergency unit.