Unintended Victim and Grateful to be Alive

Hi, My name is Jen Walsh. I am starting this Go Fund Me for Melissa Becker. She is a single mom who was the Unintended Victim of a drive-by shooting while on her way to work. Here is a brief narrative of her story.

Melissa Becker

Unintended Victim and Grateful to be Alive

As you may have heard from friends or on the news, Melissa was shot while getting gas on her way to work.

Melissa is a hardworking, single mom of 2 beautiful children (I am not sharing their names for their safety). She had been working as an automated machine operator, a job that she loves. Melissa was able to provide a loving and prosperous home for her family. She was building up her life, and then her world stopped on the evening of July 19th 2022.

While Melissa was getting gas on her way to work, she was unaware that she would not make it to work that evening nor for the foreseeable future. Melissa was inside the gas station paying for gas. Upon exiting the store, 2 teenagers had passed her. In a split second, a car pulled up, opened the back window, began shooting, and drove off, and Melissa was shot. The bullet was so powerful that it went through one leg and into the other, and the bullet was lodged inside the second leg. Before passing out from blood loss, those same 2 teenagers that passed her ran off and left the scene while she could not move and was in and out of consciousness. Those teenagers knew the bullet Melissa had taken was intended for them as they had an online altercation leading up to the drive-by shooting.

A short time later, the ambulance arrived and rushed Melissa to the hospital. As the EMTs were treating her, Melissa’s first request was for them to contact her employer to let them know that she would not be able to make it to work tonight. Maintaining a good repour with her job was her first thought.

Upon arrival at Lutheran Hospital, the emergency room was able to get Melissa in stable enough condition to have emergency surgery the following morning. The surgeon had come in to talk to Melissa about the limited surgical options. The 2 options given were both going to have long-term consequences and require a long, hard recovery. Amputation of one of her legs was a high probability. Melissa wanted to take a chance on a complex surgery that would require reconstructing the bones in one of her legs with plates and screws. Surgical removal of the bullet that was still lodged in her other leg was not going to be an option. Melissa spent a week in the hospital. Her doctors and the surgeon strongly advised her to get admitted to a physical rehabilitation facility that would have lasted at least a month or two. Being a single mom, she refused. She needed to be home to take care of her children. All of us moms out there know that we will do and sacrifice anything and everything to be home caring for our children.

Melissa came home to her children. She also came home with no source of income, no way to pay her bills (we all know those never stop no matter what) and no idea where to start. She had been left not knowing what to do or where to turn. That is why I am starting this Go Fund Me campaign for her. Melissa has always been someone who overcomes any obstacle in her way. She doesn’t ask for help, and that is why I am asking for her. She is starting physical therapy shortly and is determined to return to work. We are currently working on getting her short-term disability. However, that takes a long time to process and even longer to get approved. Local resources and applications for assistance are either specifically for Covid related issues or the funds for other programs have run out. She was only a few days short at her current employment to receive short-term disability benefits, unemployment or FMLA. It has come to light that all of the suspects in the shooting are teenagers. They do not have money, so at the end of the day, they will not be held financially responsible for their actions. The only person that is bearing the burden of pain, loss, and grief is Melissa and her kids.

In the first few minutes of meeting Melissa, it is clear to see that she is a survivor and a real tough cookie. Her determination to recover and get back on her feet (literally) is remarkable.

In the meantime, I am asking that friends, family, and anyone who can only imagine what it would be like to be in her shoes; pull together and help Melissa and her children. This is not a woman who would ever accept a handout, what she needs a hand UP to get her through this difficult time. She is currently worried sick about being unable to take care of her basic necessities like rent and utilities. There is no reason for an already bad situation to become even worse with her and her children losing their home. This entire situation has been a wake-up call that life can change as fast as a bullet shoots from a gun. Through it all, Melissa has remained not just positive but grateful. Melissa is not only grateful to be alive, but she also shared with me that she is grateful that she took the bullet instead of the teenagers that it was intended for because they would have died.

Melissa will carry that unintended bullet with her for the rest of her life. The 2 teenagers' lives were saved by the bullet that Melissa took for them. We hope and pray that they will change their lives around for the better, as this has changed Melissa and her family’s lives for now and forever.

**Please consider donating; nothing is too small to help this overwhelming situation. Please share this campaign (even if you can’t donate), because I would like to get Melissa and her children as much help as possible. I would like to raise awareness of the consequences of being an unintended victim of a crime.

Thanks a Bunch and Blessings to you All

The news story can be accessed through this link

https://www.wane.com/top-stories/police-wheelman-charged-in-drive-by-shooting-that-left-bystander-injured/