When two men opened fire at the Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade in 2024, jubilation quickly gave way to chaos.
Those men killed a woman and injured 24 other people, causing waves of devastation throughout the community.
Three of the victims from that day have spoken for the first time, revealing how the horror is still alive with them, literally.
They are still adjusting to life with bullet fragments lodged in their bodies.
James Lemons, 39, lost his job as a warehouse worker as a result of a gunshot wound to the right thigh.
The youngest victim, 15-year-old Mireya Nelson, lives with bullet fragments scattered in her shoulder, but she trusts the doctor’s decision to leave it there, even as she undergoes painful physical therapy.
Sarai Holguín, 71, has accepted her bullet as a ‘friend’, even though it prevents her from seeing her elderly father and makes it difficult for her to move her foot.
These three survivors are emblematic of a larger debate in the medical community: whether it is okay for doctors to leave bullets in someone’s body after they have been shot.
They could do this for a variety of reasons. For one thing, cutting a bullet into someone who has already been severely wounded could cause more damage, blood loss, and trauma than necessary, especially when the bullet is lodged in an area that won’t cause any damage.
On the other hand, if the bullet is difficult to reach because it is close to important anatomical structures such as blood vessels or nerves, doctors might leave it inside.
In 2023, 42,967 Americans will die from gunshot wounds according to the National Institute of Healthcare Management. However, only 15 percent of hospitals have policies on bullet removal. Kaiser Family Foundation reported.
According to a 2021 study by Washington University in St. Louis.
Doctors chose to leave bullets or their fragments in the three Chief fans who ended up in hospitals that fateful February day.
Mr. Lemons and his daughter Kensley at the parade.
Lemons had his daughter on his shoulder, watching the celebration, when he was shot in the back of his right thigh during the parade.
After scanning his leg, doctors discovered that the bullet had narrowly missed important blood vessels and was sitting in a part of Mr. Lemon’s thigh that they believed would heal easily.
Then they sent him home with the bullet still buried in his leg.
But for Lemons, who works in a warehouse that regularly requires him to move 100-pound packages around the workplace, this was far from the truth.
The pain the bullet caused in his leg made it difficult for him to walk, much less work.
Then he lost his job and, with it, his insurance.
This caused her great distress, not only dealing with the trauma of being shot, but also the pressures of caring for a family on one income and mounting medical debt.
The $1.9 million in funds United Way raised for victims of the SuperBowl shooting have yet to be made available to families like the Lemons.
Instead, they trust donations to a GoFund allow me to pay for Mr. Lemon’s bullet removal surgery later this month.
Fortunately for Erika Nelson, the mother of Mireya Nelson, a 15-year-old parade victim, her job in healthcare provides her with solid insurance that has paid for Mireya’s treatments.
At the parade, Mireya was hit by a bullet that cut her chin and passed through her jaw to her shoulder before exiting through her arm.
After treating the initial wounds, her doctors decided that the teenager had already undergone enough surgery and opted to leave bullet fragments in her shoulder. “I don’t really care about them,” Mireya said.
Now, Mireya goes to a therapist at her mother’s request, but her only complaint is that physical therapy is sometimes painful. She also notices that the scars on her chin are bumpy.
Erika, like any mother, was worried about the psychological toll this could take on her daughter, but ultimately decided that the doctors had made the right decision.
‘I don’t want her to keep going back to the hospital and having surgery. “That means more trauma for her and more recovery time, more physical therapy and things like that,” Erika said.
Mrs. Holguín’s foot has not acted the same since she was shot. Her foot hangs limply and it is difficult for her to move her toes.
Mrs. Holguín lives with a bullet in her knee.
In some cases, people can adjust to their new life with a foreign body accompanying them. That is what happened with Mrs. Holguín.
Mrs. Holguín was shot near the knee during the parade and “unsung heroes” quickly helped her get to the hospital. There, doctors determined that the best way to care for her was to leave the bullet inside her, perform a couple of damage control surgeries, and patch her wound with a device called a WoundVac.
This high-tech device is connected to a gentle vacuum that removes pressure to help a large wound heal faster, according to Johns Hopkins. The device costs approximately $800 per month.
For several weeks, Holguín visited doctors almost daily to monitor his progress.
Between those visits, the WoundVac, and the initial surgeries, the bills quickly piled up for Ms. Holguín.
The native Mexican who became a U.S. citizen in 2018 had difficulty understanding the complex bills and forms delivered to her mailbox, but was able to receive help through her local consulate.
Once she was able to secure payment for her medical bills through the Jackson County victims’ fund, her distress in dealing with the event lessened.
The Chiefs parade took place at Union Station in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, in February 2024.
She said that now she and her bullet ‘became friends so that he won’t do me any harm anymore.’
Still, he can’t travel to see his father in Mexico and has trouble moving his foot. But she is moving forward into her new reality, with her new friend, her bullet, permanently inside her.
“I have processed this new chapter in my life,” Holguín said. “I have never given up and I will continue forward with God’s help.”
As common as it is for doctors to leave bullets in bodies, some providers question their validity.
Leaving a bullet in the body sometimes leads to more physical and psychological complications, Dr. LJ Punch, a St. Louis-based trauma surgeon, told KCUR.
In physical terms, if a bullet contains lead, the chemical can leach into the bloodstream over time. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Chronic lead exposure can cause nerve damage, brain damage, and death.
Then there are cases where the bullet becomes infected. Other times, it may protrude from the skin, like a splinter, which is painful and unsightly for many patients.
Additionally, sometimes scar tissue that forms around a bullet inside a person’s body can press on nerves, ligaments, or muscles, inhibiting movement or making it painful.
The psychological toll of keeping a bullet in someone’s body is another concern doctors should consider, Dr. Brendan Campbell, a pediatric surgeon, told KCUR.
“Many times it is the emotional and psychological injuries that many of these patients also eliminate,” he said.
Leaving a bullet in someone’s body can be a physical reminder of what happened.
And “when people stay in their trauma, that trauma can change them for a lifetime,” Dr. Punch added.
33 percent of gun violence survivors report living in fear of the event happening again, according to Research of each city. 43 percent of survivors reported needing psychological support after experiencing gun violence.
However, many survivors of gun violence are returned to the world without resources, with mounting bills and a fresh bullet still in their body, just like the Boss fans.
“Trauma care is war medicine,” Punch said. ‘It is prepared to be ready at any time and at any time, every day, to save a life. You are not equipped to handle the healing that must come afterwards.’