5 months and 8 surgeries later, Wawa shooting victim finally returns home

WARNING: This story contains graphic details. 

Bridgette Hagen is the kind of person who doesn't like to be in the spotlight – but she ended up in the headlines late last year when she became the victim of a gunman who randomly opened fire at her workplace, the Northern Credit Union in Wawa.

"I'm a mom, I'm a wife, I lead a very quiet life," she tells CBC News. 

She remembers every detail of the attack she suffered, but the story she wants to share now is one of recovery, resilience and family. 

Hagen says after being shot twice and sustaining life threatening injuries, she had to be airlifted out of Wawa to receive intensive care and multiple emergency surgeries in Sudbury. 

At that point, the doctors couldn't say whether or not she would make it.

"They were hopeful, that's all they could tell my husband," she remembered.

She was put into a medically induced coma and regained consciousness about five days later, surrounded by her loved ones.

A long road to recovery

"Recovering is the hardest thing I've ever had to do," she said. "But it's made me stronger than I've ever thought possible." 

The shooting left Hagen with scars, a shattered hip, an amputated right arm, a hole in her cheek and crippling post-traumatic stress disorder. 

"It was very difficult for me to understand that I had lost my arm, because what my brain knew and what my eyes saw were two different things," she said.

Eventually, drainage tubes and staples started to come out, and she could start learning new skills, like how to write with her left hand. 

"Me and my youngest daughter are learning how to write at the same time," she said. "She's going to be my teacher in this new adventure."

While she's approaching this with a positive attitude, she's also aware that simple day-to-day things like dressing, bathing, cooking, texting and tying shoes have now become a lot more complicated. 

"I have to try, otherwise I'm not setting a good example for my girls," she said. 

"If I don't try to do something as simple as fold my pants, how can I try to do the hard things like trying to walk?"

Hagen is currently getting around with a wheeled walker, but hopes to one day be able to walk with a cane. 

The injury has permanently damaged nerves in her left foot, meaning she's lost sensations in that limb, but she's taking it step by step. 

"I'm just trying to get back to a little sense of normal, even if it's just walking from my bed to my bathroom." 

Back home for Mother's Day

One of the most challenging things about the rehabilitation process has been to be hundreds of kilometers away from her daughters and husband. 

But she's now set to return to them right in time for Mother's Day. 

"All I want to do is sit with my girls, my mom, my brothers and my husband, and just be together as a family like we used to, get back to a new normal." 

She is worried about what it might be like to be out and about in Wawa again, because it's returning to where the shooting happened. 

"Having that memory, having flashbacks, it's something that will never go away," Hagen said, anticipating she'll need some mental health supports to guide her through this.

"What I went through is something you don't see in small towns. I have to find a way to deal with it, move on, accept it – because I still haven't." 

"But, I'm grateful that I'm here, that I'm alive, and that I can tell my story and be the best mom, wife, daughter and sister I can be."

In a news release following the attack on Hagen, police said one person, whom they believe was the shooter, was found dead at the scene.