Tuesday, April 23, 2024

MSU shooting survivor Guadalupe Huapilla-Perez shares her story

March 24, 2023
<p>MSU student Guadalupe Huapilla-Perez, who was hospitalized following Monday's mass shooting. <em>GoFundMe</em></p>

MSU student Guadalupe Huapilla-Perez, who was hospitalized following Monday's mass shooting. GoFundMe

Recounting her experience from the mass shooting on Michigan State University’s campus last month, Guadalupe Huapilla-Perez said one of her biggest fears came true. 

Parts of the night are very clear while others are blurred memories, she wrote in a Facebook post.

“I remember the sound of the first bullet shot,” Huapilla-Perez wrote. “I remember calling my mom — afraid, so afraid that that would be the last time I talked to her. For her, a call she never expected but always feared receiving.”

She said she didn’t remember the exact moment when she was shot but does recall a classmate coming to her aid. She thought the ambulance ride felt like 20 minutes when in reality it was only five.

Huapilla-Perez said it didn't feel like time was on her side that night. 

“I can't remember the pain of my wounds but I can remember the pain I felt in my heart seeing this horrible tragedy unfold before me. I remember the rush to the hospital, feeling a deep sense of loneliness and fear,” Huapilla-Perez said in the post 

Huapilla-Perez was discharged from Sparrow Hospital on Monday, March 13, exactly a month after the shooting. She is continuing home care recovery in East Lansing, as her medical team and family thought she was not ready to travel home to Florida yet, according to the post

Her recovery has been hard as her wounds needed follow up surgeries, "making me relive that pain and that moment once again," Huapilla-Perez said.

“I never imagined being in this position but it is humbling,” Huapilla-Perez said in the post. “To experience your love, prayers, and support is unlike anything else. The small and big acts have all held equal weight in my heart.”

Huapilla-Perez said she mourns the loss of Arielle Anderson, Alexandria Verner and Brian Frasier and holds the other four survivors in her heart. Hearing about their recoveries inspired her own, she said. 

“I hope and pray for better days to come and promise to stand in solidarity in the ongoing conversation around gun violence in schools,” Huapilla-Perez said in the post.  “No one should ever have to live through this.”

She thanked the team at Sparrow Hospital and asked for continued privacy.

“Forever Spartan Strong," she wrote to conclude the post. 

Huapilla-Perez is the Native American and Hispanic Business Students community service chair, a Sigma Lambda Gamma sorority member and part of the MSU College Assistance Migrant Program, or CAMP. She thanked CAMP in her post. 

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