The stampede, not gunshots, caused Barbara Medina’s, 46, injuries during the incident.
When she heard the gunshots, she was marching in the procession while holding the banner for Community Partners for Affordable Housing (CPAH). She threw the banner on the ground, grabbed her daughter Caroline, who was seven at the time, and the scooter that she was riding, and hurried away from the crowd that was coming toward her. In the commotion, she became separated from her son, who was 12 years old, as well as her father.
As Medina ran along a side street, she looked back and saw that her daughter was lagging behind her. She reached behind her to grasp her kid and assist her in moving forward, but she lost her balance while riding her scooter and collapsed, injuring her left arm. Almost quickly, she saw that it was damaged.
I was able to see that it was going in the incorrect direction, and I had to sort of move it back. “It was an extremely agonizing experience,” she described it.
She was able to make it to the home of a stranger, where she found out that her kid and her father were safe and taking refuge elsewhere. In order to alleviate the agony, she used a sling that she had borrowed, an ice pack, and several cushions to prop her arm up. After a few hours, she went to Skokie Hospital, which is not a trauma center, to get her arm set, and while she was there, the medical staff determined that she had a broken proximal radius right below the elbow. She is currently wearing a cast that extends from the tips of her fingers to the top of her shoulder, and doctors anticipate that she will continue to wear the cast for approximately six to eight weeks.
Even though her arm hurts, she expressed gratitude that she and her family had escaped the incident without significant injury.
“I am more concerned about the children. “I just want to express my gratitude that we are all safe,” she stated. “The process of getting better will take a long time.”
