Opinion: How being shot changed me forever

Editor’s Note: This essay is part of the CNN Opinion series “America’s Future Starts Now” in which people share how they have been affected by the biggest issues facing the nation and experts offer their proposed solutions. Katherine “Kathy” Pisabaj is a student at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she’s working toward becoming a registered dietitian. She’s been involved locally and nationally with Students Demand Action, an organization of young activists working to end gun violence. This piece was adapted from an interview with CNN’s Jessica Ravitz Cherof. The views expressed in this commentary are Pisabaj’s own. Read more opinion on CNN.

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I always used to be the happiest, most cheerful person. That’s not who I am anymore.

My life changed on February 25, 2018, the day I was shot.

I was 19 years old and completing my prerequisites at community college so I could transfer into my dream nutrition program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. I was living at home with my mom, two sisters and my brother, but I felt independent. I had just bought my first car, and it was one of the best times of my life.

Before I was shot that Sunday, it was an amazing day, spent with those I love in the places that brought me peace. It started at Mass at the Catholic church I have gone to my entire life, followed by family time at the local churro shop before my boyfriend and I went back to his house – which is across the street from the elementary school we both went to and the playground we grew up playing in – to spend time with his family.

At 9:30 p.m., we left and got in his car so he could take me home. He was playing for me the Bad Bunny song that had just come out, “Dime Si Te Acuerdas” (“Tell Me if You Remember”), while he pulled out of the parking spot. I was looking at my boyfriend and talking about the song when his face changed, and he sped up.

I heard a loud pop. The bullet went through the right taillight, through the back seat and through the passenger seat. It felt like a hard punch in the back. But once I took a breath, the real pain started. That’s when I screamed.

I found out later that the bullet had hit me in my mid-left back and traveled through my pericardium (the membrane around the…