BUFFALO — Quintasia Livingston was 19 years old when her life was turned upside down in May 2020.
She was hanging out with her friends at a parking lot in the Towne Gardens when gunfire erupted. She ran but fell as she was shot through the middle of her body.
Weeks later, she woke up at Erie County Medical Center and came to realize she was paralyzed from the waist down.
"At 19, you’re thinking that your life is just beginning and I felt like my life was just ending,” Livingston told me.
Through a hospital-based program aimed at treating the trauma of gun violence, she overcame her depression and anger. It’s called BRAVE – Buffalo Rising Against Violence.
Shannon King, who is the clinical director of the program, recalled how Livingston was dealing with a lot of emotions.
“I remember her and I having very honest conversations," said King. "She was like, ‘You can walk. You can get up and walk out of this room. I don't want to talk to you.'"
But eventually, she did.
"It was just being there and acknowledging that it was OK that she felt that way,” King said. “You know, that understanding and giving her space to express those emotions."
Looking back, Livingston said she appreciates that.
"As mean as I was, they could have gave up on me and they didn't,” Livingston said.
"You realize how resilient she is. Looking back…she not only has she survived but she's thrived,” said Paula Kovanic Spiro, also with BRAVE.
She’s doing so well she was invited to be a guest speaker for BRAVE’s new off-campus Trauma Recovery Center last month.
And she’s also celebrating one year of living on her own — something she once thought she’d never be able to do.
She calls her apartment her “Barbie Dream House” and she has filled it with pink-colored items, from pillows to cooking pots.
Someday, she’d like to be a counselor and show other survivors of gun violence that there’s hope.
Her message to them: "It's not impossible. You know, we can get through this, we can still be regular people, we can still be independent and life moves on. You could do whatever. I know I've been able to do whatever in my situation still. So, I know anybody else could too."
