The Incident

On 5 December 2007, while working in her mail packaging and supply store, our mother Susan L. Normand was shot twice in the abdomen. There was no motive for the shooting. She was assisting a regular customer with a package when he pulled a 9mm handgun from the box he was carrying and shot her with it. He then calmly placed the gun back into the box and left the store, ignoring a shocked customer that had been waiting his turn for mailing services.

The waiting customer ran to assist mom and dialed 911. Mom was transported in critical condition via Bayflight from Anna Maria to the regional trauma center in St. Petersburg. Later reports indicate that the shooter probably suffered from some form of mental illness. Mom merely had the bad luck to somehow figure into his delusions.

The Bad News

Like many American small-business owners, Mom could not afford health insurance. Despite our pleas to get some coverage, she felt that since she was in excellent health, she would have to hold off until she could qualify for Medicare/Medicaid at age 65. She simply did not make enough in her small business to cover the cost of health care coverage each month; the best deal she could find was nearly the same cost of a mortgage payment.

She is now looking at a very long recovery — up to a year. She will have to use a walker for nearly that amount of time, and her full mobility may never return. We have to find a way to get a chair lift or an elevator into her home; her home is in a flood zone, and therefore is built according to the code requiring it be far above ground. She will not be able to negotiate the steps leading to her home for quite some time. Her children, unfortunately, have a similar situation; both have stairs to contend with as well.

She will also undoubtedly be unable to return to work for quite a while, at which time she will be relegated to working in the office, where she will not have to jump up to assist customers or run to the back of the store to send or create packages.

For these reasons, and of course the exorbitant cost of emergency medical care, we must make a plea for donations to assist Mom through this difficult time. 

The Good News

The very good news is that Mom survived her ordeal; a miracle, considering the proximity of the shooter to his target. We've been inundated with offers of assistance, and while pride begs us not to take any — it is not feasible to pay the expenses of this attack and its aftermath by ourselves.

How You Can Help

We have enabled PayPal on this site for securely making donations. We truly appreciate anything you can give, and we will close the site when costs have been defrayed.