WARNING: This story contains details that may be disturbing to some readers.
Twelve months after nearly losing her life in a shocking act of violence at work, a Wawa woman says she’s focusing on the positives as she continues to heal physically and emotionally.
Bridgette Hagen was working at the Wawa branch of Northern Credit Union on Dec. 12, 2024, when the unthinkable happened — a gunman entered and shot her four times with a shotgun.
Reached by phone on Sunday, Hagen said she's learning to live with her life-altering injuries and is thankful for all the support she has received in the past year.
"I'm just taking everything one day at a time and I'm trying to find the positives in that day and just move forward," said Hagen about her outlook on life one year after the tragedy.
Hagen said she's looking forward to the holidays with her husband and two children, especially after missing Christmas last year while she was in a medically-induced coma, fighting for her life in hospital.
"This Christmas is extremely important and it's not even about the gifts or anything — I just want to be able to spend that day with my children, because I didn't get that last year. It's just about being with your family and spending that special day together," Hagen said.
She was heavily medicated during the first few months of her recovery and – although she was told the extent of her injuries – the effects of the sedatives and the brain fog she experienced made it difficult to retain some information.
One hand and part of her forearm were amputated, her appendix was removed and she has had surgery on her lungs, heart and colon to stop the internal bleeding.
Her pelvis and femur were shattered and she had pellets in her face, jaw and eye cavity.
"I was told repeatedly in the beginning that I had lost my arm, but I didn't understand what anybody was talking about," said Hagen.
"They had to tell me repeatedly because I simply forgot and it took months before things started to actually make sense, which was rough on my family and rough on me."
Once she finally left hospital in May, extensive physiotherapy continued to treat her physical injuries.
"I do my physiotherapy at least once a week and it's hard — little things you take for granted, like trying to put all my weight on my injured left leg and I can't do it. If I'm trying to do a squat or something, everything is just different," said Hagen.
She also receives psychotherapy to help cope with the psychological impact of the trauma.
"I've been diagnosed with severe PTSD and severe depression. I have therapists who work with me weekly to try and fight these issues, but given the severe trauma of everything, it's expected that something like this would happen," said Hagen.
The shooter was found dead by police at the scene at the time of the incident. He shot Hagen twice with a shotgun and returned to shoot her twice more after he was unable to find her co-workers at the branch.
"I'll never get justice. I'll never know why this happened. I'm just thankful that he didn't find my other two co-workers, because this could have been so much worse," Hagen said.
The Ontario Provincial Police has never released the shooter's name.
Hagen said she can't thank the medical team enough for the care she received.
"To survive that, with the injuries that I face and the recovery that is still ahead of me, I think I'm doing pretty good. I amaze my doctors every time I see them. They have nothing but positive things to say," said Hagen.
Now back in Wawa, Hagen said she's often hugged on the street when people see her.
"I can't thank my community enough for the support and for the kind words and everything that they've shown toward my husband and my children. That's just been incredible," she said.
The community also came through in a big way, supporting a GoFundMe crowdfunding effort by pledging more than $159,000 toward Hagen's recovery.
Hagen said she has made a point to personally thank the police officers and paramedics who were first to attend the scene when she was critically injured.
"I wanted to say thank you, because it's very important to me that they see a positive outcome from their job," she said.
The same goes for the hospital staff in Wawa and Sudbury.
"Without the excellent care that I received here in the Wawa Hospital, I wouldn't have made it to Sudbury and at the Sudbury Hospital they took amazing care of me," said Hagen.
– with files from Brandon Walker