Tishawn says she feels great to be home. You’d never know she survived a gunshot to the head.
She has notes from nurses and therapists at Children’s Mercy Hospital taped up around her bed, telling her how proud they are.
At eight years old, Tishawn has to wear a special helmet, bedazzled with her favorite colors, of course.
“Pink and purple,” she said.
This is ?Tishawn.? She was shot in the head in June & just left the hospital. Hear from this sassy girl on @41actionnews at 6. pic.twitter.com/SxilLIFRp6
— Sarah Plake (@SarahPlakeTV) September 18, 2017
She’s wheelchair-bound and learning to walk again.
“My dad is teaching me. He told me to take steps from the chair all the way to the bed,” she said.
Tishawn wears a sling on her left arm and a zebra-print brace on her left leg, where she recently regained feeling.
Several bottles of medication sit on the nightstand. She has a long road to recovery.
But being in the hospital for almost three months didn't take away her sense of humor. She dances, slings sassy remarks to her parents, and talks about her love of crab legs.
“She took the Holy Water,” Tishawn giggled, pointing to the labeled bottle among the medication, to which her mother, Latisha Slayden, quickly reminded her a priest gave them that water.
“This girl is drama,” Latisha laughed.
Tishawn has no recollection that a child shot her in the head in June, as she played right behind her family’s apartment at Blue Valley Court Townhomes at 23rd and Topping.
Her parents plan to keep it that way.
“Let’s leave it be. Let’s move on,” her dad, Shawn Nelson, said.
Latisha says her daughter’s recovery is a true miracle.
“Walking, talking. Sassy. Fierce. Same old Tishawn, like this never happened,” Latisha said.
As you can imagine, that apartment is the last place the family wants to be.
“I thought coming back here would have a flashback, but it didn't happen,” Latisha said.
They didn't expect to go back there. Their entire lives are now packed up in boxes. They’d hoped to find a different place to live before Tishawn left the hospital, but they couldn't find anything they could afford in time.
“Just for our safety and hers as well. For her to be comfortable. A bigger area. We won’t be as cluttered. Because she knows how to roll in her wheelchair,” Latisha said.
Latisha says caseworkers at the hospital even delayed Tishawn's release date because their current apartment isn’t wheelchair friendly.
Now, keeping their daughter away from the violence in their neighborhood and surrounded with love is their only goal.
"I’m happy to see my cousins tomorrow," Tishawn said with a smile.
No charges have been filed yet in Tishawn’s case. Shawn and Latisha said the parents of the boy who brought the gun to the playground that day should be charged, and are outraged no one is being held accountable.
