Danforth victim coming out of coma
But Danielle Kane, 31, may never walk again, her boyfriend says
An evening out at a restaurant on the Danforth should have been a relaxing night for Danielle Kane and her boyfriend.
Then gunman Faisal Hussain opened fire on the familyfriendly street, killing 10-yearold Julianna Kozis and 18-yearold Reese Fallon, and injuring 13 others. Kane is one of those victims. The 31-year-old nursing student was shot in the spine as she and her boyfriend, nurse Jerry Pinksen, rushed out of an Italian restaurant, determined to help any way they could.
A bullet struck and shattered Kane’s T11 vertebrae, puncturing her diaphragm and stomach. She is gradually coming out of a medically induced coma, but the full extent of her injuries is not yet known, Pinksen said Tuesday.
“Doctors said that worst-case scenario, she’s in a wheelchair with the use of her arms and torso, and best-case scenario she’s going to be walking with an aid or a walker of some sort,” said Pinksen, 35, who has been with Kane for nearly two years.
“I’ve been through some emotional distress, but Danielle right now is suffering from potentially a lifelong deficit, so I want to make sure that people recognize how selfless she was, trying to race out there and help someone, not knowing what we were going to meet outside the door.”
In the days following the shooting, Kane has undergone at least four surgeries.
Friends and family started a GoFundMe to fundraise for her fight ahead and have raised more than $160,000 as of Tuesday evening.
Pinksen said he’s “floored” by the outpouring of support. “I never thought (the campaign) would get so many people, from all across Canada, from my hometown.”
On the night of July 22, Kane and Pinksen were inside 7Numbers Italian restaurant, treating a friend to dinner, when they heard 10 or 12 shots ring out.
A woman ran into the restaurant saying someone had been shot. Pinksen sprung from the table and rushed to help an injured woman. An ER nurse, he felt it was his duty to jump into the scene. Kane followed close behind. “Those compassionate, selfless tendencies, they’re why we fell in love, and that’s why we’re together right now,” said Pinksen, who works at Michael Garron Hospital on Coxwell Ave., not far from the site of the shooting.
Pinksen said he made eye contact with the shooter before hearing a click. He dove behind a patio table, then heard a scream.
Kane had been hit. Pinksen brought her inside and began administering first aid until first responders arrived.
“She said it was the most pain she had ever experienced and she couldn’t feel her legs,” he said.
Kane, who studies nursing at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, was set to start her second year of school in September.
Pinksen said it was instinct for his girlfriend to help others. “She’s so compassionate,” he said, noting that her goal after school was to become an advocate for marginalized people, including the homeless and those struggling with mental health and addiction.
“That was what she was driven to, to help support those people — give those people a voice. She’s always there to help.”
Kane was conscious until she went into surgery the morning after the shooting, and has been under sedation and on a ventilator since then, Pinksen said.
Over the past three to four days, doctors have been trying to ease Kane off the breathing machine, slowly reducing her sedation so she can breathe on her own and follow command.
“She’s still very agitated and we don’t know what she’s thinking or what she is working through,” Pinksen said.
Once she is well enough, Kane will begin rehabilitation, and Pinksen said he plans to be by her side the whole way.
“I want to make sure I am going to provide the life for her that she has the least amount of barriers, so that she can keep her autonomy and be an independent woman like she was before this tragic event,” he said.
Pinksen said that he was wracked with guilt because his decision to help the victim outside led Kane into danger. “I realized that she’s a caring, professional woman, and she wouldn’t have listened to me anyways,” he said.
“She was out there no matter what. I didn’t even think about it — I was rushing out — and she was rushing out right behind me.”
Pinksen called Kane “selfless” in her actions. “She wouldn’t think that she needs recognition, she wouldn’t think she’s deserving of it,” he said. “I just want to make sure that she has the support she needs.”