WALDEN, Colo. ( KDVR ) — A Columbine High School shooting survivor who was left with thousands of dollars in bills from a 2020 medical helicopter flight is describing it as injustice.
It’s been 25 years since the tragedy at Columbine , when 13 people — 12 students and a teacher — died after two armed teenage boys went on a killing spree at the suburban Denver school. But for survivors like Joey Blom, the trauma is daily.
“That’s where I got PTSD from because I was there, I was in the cafeteria under a table. It affected my life very much, and it still does to this day,” Blom said.
Kentucky trooper: Argument preceded judge’s courthouse shooting death
Her post-traumatic stress disorder led to a mental health emergency on July 11, 2020, after some changes in her medication.
“I wasn’t aware of a lot of the things I was doing because I was really scared because I thought everybody was against me. What happened is I had a medication changed on me, two of my mental health medications, and it made me stop taking them because I thought I was cured, and I started going into psychosis and started reliving the trauma throughout my life as if it were happening right then and there,” Blom said. “It was like I was there again, and so I thought everybody was out to get me, even my parents, and so my number one thing was getting away and get safe and so I was reacting to that.”