

Kayla Goodfield, CP24.com





A 31-year-old victim of the mass shooting on the Danforth last summer said having a positive attitude has made accepting the devastating fact that she will never walk again a bit easier.

Danielle Kane said life can be chaotic and unpredictable but it’s always best to look on the bright side of things.

“I think in hoping for the best, in my own case, I feel like it’s made the process a bit easier,” she said while sitting in her wheelchair under the sun at a Toronto park on Friday afternoon.

“There is no shortage of things to cry about and be upset about but focusing on the positive is really what helps me get through the day.”

Kane was having dinner on Danforth Avenue with her boyfriend and friends on the evening of July 22 when gunfire erupted in the area.

“That night, a friend of ours was celebrating a birthday and she was sort of going through some challenges in her own life so we really wanted to make it special for her.”

She said their group was at the restaurant for about an hour and a half before the madness began.

“By the time things happened all of us were almost getting to dessert. It was a lovely evening. It was really quiet and warm and at one point I heard what sounded like fireworks down the street and I didn’t really think much of it.”

One of the staff members then told the patrons of the restaurant that there was a gunman in the area and advised everyone to go inside, Kane said.

“A few minutes later someone had come in and told Jerry (Kane’s boyfriend) that there was an injured person outside and he’s an emergency nurse so he thought I have the skills and training to go out and I’m a first-year nursing student so I thought I have basic first aid skills and I can also help,” she said.

“We exited (the restaurant) and not more than one or two steps out of the restaurant I made eye contact with someone across the street, who was just standing still and he had his arms down and all of a sudden his arms came up and there was a bright red flash and I realized he was the gunman so I quickly turned and I was hit and I fell into the doorway of the restaurant so that’s how you know I didn’t get very far.”

The single bullet entered through her side, tore through her stomach and exited through her back, shattering part of her spine.

Kane said her boyfriend coached her through breathing as they waited for emergency responders to show up.

“I had a lot of time to process what had happened since it took a long time for the ambulance to come to use – it took about 30 minutes for the ambulance to come to us,” she said. “That was one of the worst parts of my experience because one lung had collapsed and the other was filling with blood so it was really hard to breathe and I had to focus very much on breathing.”

“I felt like I was suffocating. I was thinking this could be it. This could be the end. I remember thinking I don’t want my story to be over.”

Kane spent 11 days in a medically-induced coma and underwent four surgeries.

Two people, 18-year-old Reese Fallon and 10-year-old Julianna Kozis, died in the shooting and 13 others, including Kane, were left injured. The gunman died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the scene.

After coming out of the coma, doctors told Kane they would not know if her injuries would be permanent until about six months after the incident occurred.

“At the time, I thought there is still hope so I wasn’t really that upset at the time but as soon as I transferred to rehab and I was assessed and I learnt that my injury is permanent, it was devastating. You never obviously imagine this kind of thing would happen. It did take a while to process that information and I’m still processing it, honestly.”

Amid good and bad days, Kane said she is hopeful that she will build strong enough wheelchair skills to be comfortable navigating her day-to-day life on her own.

“I’ve been overwhelmed by all the support from everyone in the city and the community,” she said. “It’s part of the reason why I feel like I just need to get better because I need to do justice for all the good that was done to help me get back to somewhat of a normal life again.”

Kane said her plans moving forward are to intern with the Ontario Nurses’ Association this coming summer and then continue her nursing education at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in the fall.