Ella Whistler is looking forward to heading to high school this fall.
Ella Whistler still thanks God she's alive after she survived being shot seven times during a school shooting in Indiana last year.
“I really think it's a miracle I’m here,” the 14-year-old told Inside Edition of her life a year since her world changed forever.
In May 2018, Whistler was in science class Noblesville, Indiana, when a male classmate walked in and pulled out a gun.
“I just remember seeing the gun pointed at me,” she recalled.
Teacher Jason Seaman threw a basketball at the gunman and then tackled him to the floor. Seaman, who coaches the seventh-grade football team and is a former college defensive lineman, took three bullets. He survived.
“I think he saved the classroom's lives,” Ella said.
Ella lay bleeding as students were evacuated and a SWAT team moved in.
Ella's parents, Cory and Julia, remembered getting the call. “We got the news she was shot. Singular. We found out [later] multiple gunshot wounds,” her father recalled.
She suffered a broken jaw, broken ribs, collapsed lungs and broken vertebrae in her neck. But she doesn't let that stop her.
“It's amazing every day, thank God she's still here,” Cory said.
Now, Ella is undergoing physical therapy. Her mom has to help her tie her shoes.
But the teenager is enjoying her summer and is looking forward to starting high school this fall with a positive outlook despite what happened.
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