ATLANTA — One year after the Apalachee High School shooting, survivor Taylor Jones reunited with the doctors who saved her life.
Channel 2’s Candace McCowan continues the Team 2 coverage at Grady Memorial Hospital.
“I just wanted to say, like, thank you,” she told the doctors.
“We just want to say thank you, amazing, you’re walking really well,” said Dr. Stacy Dougherty.
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Jones, then 14, was airlifted to Grady Memorial Hospital after being shot at Apalachee High School, where she received critical care for her severe injuries, including a broken femur and arterial damage.
“The number of people that got a tourniquet on her in the field, the luck that helicopter was close enough to get there and get her to Grady,” Dougherty said.
Taylor spent more than 30 days at Grady Memorial Hospital and additional time at Children’s Hospital as part of her recovery.
Dr. Jaime Benarroch Gampel noted the complexity of her injuries, explaining, “I think the way the bullet just went through, instead of just one side, it was through other vein, so this was multiple places she was bleeding.”
Despite the severity of her injuries, Taylor has made significant progress, now able to walk, and she aims to become an EMT to help others.
Dougherty expressed admiration for Taylor’s recovery, saying, “That was great to see how wonderful she looks and how she has gotten back to life.”
“Seeing her in person, you can’t get that from a phone call,” Dr. Jerad Allen said.
For Taylor, she still has recovery to do, physically through therapy.
It’s tough mentally, too.
Taylor reflected on the impact of the shooting, stating, “Something in me won’t let me hate him, but I’m just so angry at him because we didn’t do anything to him.”
One of the trauma surgeons who was here the day Taylor was flown to Grady, is Dr. Erin Caddell. She’s a member of the Army and is currently deployed.
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