'I'm a miracle:' NCSU grad injured in Las Vegas recounts night of shooting
North Carolina State University graduate Jenna DeCandio was one of more than 500 injured late Sunday when a gunman opened fire on the festival, killing 58 people at he Route 91 Harvest country music festival in Las Vegas on October .
Posted — UpdatedTickets to the festival were a college graduation gift from her parents.
DeCandio recently moved to New Jersey but lived in Cary with her family before attending NC State. She is now recovering at her family's home in South Carolina.
Less than two weeks since the deadliest mass shooting in United States history, DeCandio recounted the terrifying experience and how it has affected her.
She says everyone was having a good time at the festival, until bullets started flying.
"You could hear the shots, and they sounded so close, you could hear like, cutting the air," she said.
DeCandio said she remembers the exact moment she was hit, as she was trying to escape with thousands of other panicked people.
"I instantly felt this burning sensation, in my top hip, butt area on my left side," she said. "I just knew something hit me."
DeCandio was released from a Las Vegas hospital about one week after the shooting.
"I am very, very lucky to not honestly have any damage really from the bullet," DeCandio said.
DeCandio said doctors were amazed she wasn't more seriously injured from a bullet designed to cause maximum destruction.
"I didn't hit my spine, it didn't hit any of my internal organs," she said. "I'm a miracle, that's what all of the doctors that I had kept saying, 'We've never seen anything like this.'"
DeCandio said she feels lucky that she and her parents, who were not hurt, made it home alive.
"Although I don't like why I'm spending more time with my parents, I definitely appreciate that I get to spend more time with my parents," she said.
Physically she said she's doing much better, but there will be an emotional healing process as well.
As avid concert-goers, the DeCandios have tickets to a large music festival in South Carolina in May.
They have gone to the event the last few years, but they are considering returning their tickets.
After learning the festival is set up similarly to the Las Vegas venue, they feel it may be too soon.
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