Karina Vargas is a gun violence survivor from Aurora, Colorado. She is a member of the Everytown Survivor Network, a community of survivors of gun violence. The views expressed in this commentary are her own.

(CNN) On Saturday, people across the nation -- young and old, from big cities and small towns, of all races, religions and creeds -- will take to the streets to say we have had enough. As part of March for Our Lives, we will show the world that Americans will no longer stand for gun violence, which ravages communities and devastates lives on an almost daily basis.

That said, I won't be walking as part of the march. Instead, I will be rolling my wheelchair through the streets of Denver, surrounded by family and friends, as we call for laws that protect our communities -- rather than the gun lobby.

This march is personal for me because, nearly eight years ago, I was shot in a drive-by shooting while standing outside my high school. The bullet that remains lodged in my spinal cord has paralyzed the lower half of my body.

I was 16 years old at the time and in my junior year at Aurora Central High School. I had just finished my last class of the day and was in a rush to go home and get my new Australian shepherd puppy, Barbie, so I could show her off to all my friends. She was so small, she fit in the front pocket of my sweater.

As my friends and I were hanging out, playing with the puppy outside of our school, a black car suddenly made a U-turn and headed straight toward us. As we all scattered to get out of the way, I remember hearing the gunshot -- and then I blacked out.

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