About 16 years ago, Susan, was shot by her boyfriend. The shooting happened when Susan, then-17, was living in Arizona with her 19-year-old boyfriend and she decided to move back to her parents.
“Being 17 years old, I thought I would go back to the house and grab some things,” she said. “And walked into the house, and it’s the last time I walked.”
Susan was on a ventilator for a month and a half, six months of intensive inpatient rehabilitation, she is a quadriplegic. But her boyfriend was convicted of only having a stolen weapon and got 30 days in jail. That was 16 years ago and Susan finally decided she wants to do something for others.
“I do feel like, being a victim myself, who better to be an advocate for other victims than someone who’s been through it,” she said.
“We see Susan who is forever in a chair because of domestic violence,” said Macomb County Prosecutor Pete Lucido.
Lucido agreed to take Susan in as an intern as a part of the 11-member victim advocate unit helping victims, so she can graduate from Medacom College with her degree.