By Shelly-Ann Thompson, Freelance Writer 
ALECIA THOMAS was shot twice once in each leg by a gunman almost seven years ago. Still, despite the brace that supports her leg and toes that cannot move, Thomas says she is not bitter.
Instead, the 24-year-old believes that she is blessed and says she is thankful to be alive and to have the opportunity to fulfil her goal of getting a university degree.
The shooting that almost ended her life occurred on April 14, 1998. This is her story. For obvious reasons we've changed her name and withheld some details that could identify her.
"I was standing by myself inside the yard of our home in the county when I saw two men with guns walk through the yard to my godmother's house at the back of my house. I called to my (pregnant) cousin and said, 'It look like them a go rob Miss ...'
"We stopped a guy who was walking by at the front of the house and told him what was happening. At the same time, my godmother was driving out in her van and the headlight was shining in the direction of the gun men.
"One of them turned around and saw us my cousin, the guy we had stopped and me. He said to us: 'Whey yuh deh a so fa?'
"Our friend must have been shocked because he said, 'No dah girl a just tell mi sey she see two strange guy in her yard'.
" The gunman then turned to me and said: 'Gal, yuh see too much. Yuh no see man pon dem mission and yuh a watch dem out?'
"So I said, 'It's not a matter a watch, but if mi see strange man in a mi yard mi no must look'.
"Then he turned to me and said, 'Gal, come yah' and grabbed me in my chest, pulling my chain and brandishing a gun.
"I started begging and crying, 'Don't shoot me, don't shoot me!' He started kicking us and ordered us to lay down on the ground. My cousin and the guy lay down on their belly. I decided that if he was going to shoot me, I didn't want him to shoot me in my back. So, I lay on my back with my knees bent.
"He came up to me and shot me in the right thigh then he stepped over me and shot me in the left thigh.
BLESSED TO BE ALIVE
"Of course I was shocked. I was at a loss. When he was about to shoot my (pregnant) cousin, my aunt, who was inside the house and heard the gunshots, opened the door. The gunman shouted to her, 'Gal whey yuh a go?' and she closed the door.
"He went around to the front of the house and kicked down the door. My three little cousins who were inside
started screaming. The gunman 'licked' off the stuff off the whatnot and left.
"I just couldn't believe that he shot me. I was in a state of shock. I was conscious and everything, but it wasn't painful. I didn't feel anything, apart from the blood that was streaming down my legs and the numbness in the left leg.
"Minutes later, I was taken to a local hospital and then transferred to Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) where I was told that the numbness in my left leg was the result of the bullet destroying the arteries and damaging the nerves.
"While I was in the hospital bed, I could hear the doctor talking telling my relatives that the bullet had damaged the arteries and that I was going to lose the leg if the arteries weren't tied back together. I thought that was insensitive of him to say that within earshot of me.
"I underwent a traumatic four and a half hour-long operation at KPH that night. Thank God for the support of my family. My mother and cousins were there for me. I considered myself blessed to be alive, others have received just one shot and died.
"After the surgery, I returned to London, where I had lived for several years with my father and brother. Two months after the first operation, I had another one in London. I spent five days in the hospital where they did a nerve transfer from my left calf to my left thigh. The doctors hoped that with this operation the nerves would grow back down to the toes and ankles, making movement possible. However, this has not happened and I still have very little movement in my left ankle. Luckily, the bullet only grazed the flesh of my right thigh so that leg is all right.
"The foot splint I wear supports my leg from the calf to underneath my foot. I also have scars from the surgeries the longest scar runs from my knee to my ankle.
"I always wear pants to cover the scars. A lot of times people ask, 'How you always wearing pants?' but I don't bother to say why.
GOING AFTER HER DREAMS
"Getting shot at age 18 has not prevented me from achieving my dreams. I saw my name on a degree somewhere out there and I went out and got it.
"When I got shot, I was attending a community college in Kingston. I had to drop out of that programme, but when I could walk again, I was back in school. I enrolled in another community college and completed my Cambridge 'A'Levels with two As. I was the only student in my school that year to achieve this.
"While I was attending school, I was on crutches, and I would take the bus and a taxi every day to school. Of course I got teased. Even a man in my community once said to me 'Wha my girl, yuh man bruk yuh foot'.
"I was to remain in England after the surgery but wanted to return home. I was not happy in London because I was home alone most days as my relatives were out working. There was no social support there for me as all my friends, cousins, aunts and mother were back home.
NO HATRED
"My father decided that he would not pay my fare to come back home. But all the money I got from friends, relatives and my mother, I saved, and paid for my airfare. My father didn't talk to me for two years.
"Ironically, the man who shot me was killed after being shot in one of his thighs. It's funny but I have no hatred for him, maybe it's because I know that he hadn't come for me directly, and because I believe that whatever is meant to be I leave it to God and time.
"Getting shot has made me stronger and more determined to achieve my goals. I hold a double degree with honours in psychology and sociology from one of Jamaica's top universities and am now completing a master's degree.
