Las Vegas Shooting Victim Regains Consciousness — Flashes OK Sign As Surgery Looms

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By Ari Feldman October 4, 2017

Natalie Grumet, a Jewish breast cancer survivor who was shot in the head during Sunday night’s mass shooting in Las Vegas, has regained consciousness.

Her family members say that she is able to interact with them with hand signals and by writing.

Grumet was standing next to her friend at the concert when Stephen Paddock began shooting from his room in the Mandalay Bay Resort, where Grumet was staying with her husband. A bullet entered Grumet’s cheek and exited near her jaw, shattering her mandible and ripping off a large chunk of skin.

Grumet underwent surgery on Tuesday to place breathing and feeding tubes and wire her jaw shut. She is currently being treated at Sunrise Hospital, which took in over 180 people injured in the shooting.

After waking up, Grumet’s cousin Erinn Jean said that the first thing Grumet did was ask if the two friends she attended the concert with are okay. When Jean told her both were okay, Grumet gave a thumbs up. Then she pointed to herself and flashed the OK sign.

Jean says that when Grumet saw her father was going to cry upon seeing that she was awake, she held his hand and gave a thumbs up.

Grumet’s family plans to have her airlifted to the hospital where she works in the Los Angeles area on Thursday or Friday. According to the family the cost of the medical transportation may cost upwards of $50,000. On Monday, one family member created a GoFundMe page to get funding for the cost of the airlift and other medical bills. As of Wednesday afternoon the page had raised over $84,000.

Contact Ari Feldman at [email protected] or on Twitter @aefeldman.

Ari Feldman is a staff writer at the Forward. He covers Jewish religious organizations, synagogue life, anti-Semitism and the Orthodox world. If you have any tips, you can email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @aefeldman.

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