SAN ANTONIO – At 29 years old, Michelle Dominguez is learning how to live a new life after being paralyzed in a road rage shooting about five months ago.
Dominguez said she remembers walking out of her apartment on Nov. 15, 2021. It was a rare day off for her, she said.
“I remember getting on the highway, and then, I just started hearing the shots,” she recalled.
A driver next to her and her family shot toward them near Theo Avenue and I-35. Dominguez said she remembers jumping to the back of the car to huddle over her 7-year-old daughter.
“When I got shot, it didn’t even hurt at the time. All I felt was an electric shock go down all the way from my back to my toes,” Dominguez recalled. “I knew that was a done deal.”
Dominguez’s husband drove her to the closest hospital. She was then rushed to Brooke Army Medical Center, where she received care until January 2022.
The 29-year-old said she is paralyzed from the waist down. Doctors gave her a 6% chance of walking again.
“I can’t do the stuff I used to do. I can’t go places. It’s hard when my daughter says, When you start walking, we can go,’” Dominguez said.
Dominguez said she has scars all over her body and wounds still healing. Despite everything she’s suffered, she said she is still joyful.
“I’m so grateful for life. I’m so grateful that I’m still here with my family, most importantly (my daughter),” Dominguez said.
It’s been difficult for her family to adjust to a new way of doing things. The family depends a lot on Dominguez’s parents and in-laws.
When Dominguez is taken out or on an appointment, it takes two people to move her. The family vehicle is still riddled with bullets. She said it’s all they have, and it’s not handicap accessible.
Dominguez said it’s been difficult to depend on others for everything. Overwhelmed, her family reached out to KSAT for help figuring out where to turn for guidance in their new journey.
On Tuesday’s Nightbeat, tune in to KSAT 12 to see how a local nonprofit helps families with life-changing diagnoses.