A husband whose wife was shot in the head in the Las Vegas mass shooting was told to consider taking her off life support but decided against it after she visited him in his dream.
Jovanna Calzadillas is extremely lucky her husband made that decision, because she had what her doctors are calling a ‘profound’ recovery.
‘I had a dream that Jovanna visited me and she hugged me and kissed me and told me everything was gonna be ok,’ Frank Calzadillas said. ‘She walked away, and I called her mom and said we’re keeping Jovanna alive, she’s gonna be alright.’
She was finally able to go home from the hospital on Wednesday.
They were in Vegas attending the Route 91 Festival to celebrate his safe return from Air Force deployment in Afghanistan when the unthinkable happened October 1 and Jovanna was shot in the head in the deadliest mass shooting in US history.
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Jovanna Calzadillas’ profound recovery almost didn’t happen. Her husband Frank was considering doctors’ suggestion to take her off life support when he had a dream about her
‘I had a dream that Jovanna visited me and she hugged me and kissed me and told me everything was gonna be ok’ her husband Frank said
Jovanna’s husband Frank called her mother after his dream and said ‘we’re keeping Jovanna alive, she’s gonna be alright’
A smiling Jovanna pictured in a wheelchair following the shooting. She has made a miraculous recovery
The couple were cheering for country singer Jason Aldean when gunman Stephen Paddock opened fire on the crowd from his room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay resort. He killed 58 people and wounded 851 others before killing himself.
The bullet that struck Jovanna stuck the left side of her brain.
She was in a coma at a Vegas hospital. Frank was considering the doctors suggestion to pull her off life support when she visited him in his dream.
She woke up from the coma after 18 days.
Her first words? ‘God damn it,’ according to her husband Frank. ‘Her dad told her ”Don’t say that. You’re supposed to be the miracle child.”
Jovanna and Frank share a kiss before the tragic shooting. The couple were in Vegas celebrating his safe return from deployment in the Middle East when she was shot in the head
Declining to take questions at the press conference, Jovanna (pictured with her husband Frank before the shooting) instead slowly read from her own short, prepared statements
Jovanna flashes the peace sign after being shot in the head during the Las Vegas atrocity
‘On October 1, a part of me changed that night,’ (pictured left with her husband before the shooting, and right) said. ‘Even though I will not be the same Jovanna, I will come back strong’
Frank isn’t upset at the doctors in Vegas for suggesting he should consider taking her off life support. ‘Medical science is what it is,’ he said.
After she woke up from the coma her family decided to transfer her to a hospital closer to home to begin what they knew was going to be a long recovery process.
She arrived at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix on October 19.
One of her physicians, Dr. Lindley Bliss, said Jovanna could not breathe on her own, was on a respirator and that her prognosis was ‘pretty grim.’
The only positive sign, Bliss said, was that she ‘was more alert than we expected.’
Dr. Christina Kwasnica, medical director of the institute’s neuro-rehabilitation center, said the bullet hit the left side of Jovanna’s brain, the side that processes language.
So a medical team first focused on therapies for her that didn’t require language comprehension but would at least strengthen areas of her body that still functioned. They also decreased pain medications and sedatives. This led to Jovanna becoming more responsive.
By the beginning of November, she no longer needed a ventilator. Two weeks later, she could drink from a cup on her own and eat ice cream.
She was walking with the help of an exoskeleton by Christmas and continued to persevere throughout her journey crediting what her surgeons have called a ‘profound’ and ‘amazing’ recovery, to her children and herself.
‘I will not quit on them and I will not quit on myself,’ she said during a press conference before her release from Barrow.
Jovanna and Frank Calzadillas watch a video of her during a news conference prior to her release
Jovanna is helped by therapist Ammon Lovell, right, as she arrives for the news conference
Declining to take questions, she instead slowly read from her own short, prepared statements.
‘On October 1, a part of me changed that night,’ she said. ‘Even though I will not be the same Jovanna, I will come back strong.’
‘And I have one last thing to say: Si, se puede, ‘ which translates to ‘Yes, we can.’
Now, the couple is looking forward to lounging on the couch and watching movies with their 11-year-old son and three-year-old daughter.
Jovanna is also happy that she will ‘get to boss my husband around.’
They’ve received widespread support from family, friends and the community. The Salt River Police Department started a GoFundMe page in October which has garnered more than $87,000 in donations.
While the couple can laugh together now, Frank Calzadillas knows there’s a long road ahead.
‘The very first thing she remembers when she woke up was panic because she couldn’t talk. We still live those days,’ he said. ‘We still have those hard times where it’s very emotional. It’s still a struggle.’
Jovanna will be doing out-patient therapy now. She is determined to do it for however long it takes to regain her strength and mobility.
‘The hardest part for us was the unknown,’ Frank said, thankful he had faith throughout their ordeal. ‘We as a family, we left it in God’s hands and here she is.’
Jovanna was in the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas (pictured) when she was shot
Gunman Stephen Paddock killed 58 people and wounded 851 others before killing himself