<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"If you read my article in this month&amp;amp;#8217;s Glamour, you&amp;amp;#8217;ll see the hard lessons I learned after being shot and paralyzed from the waist down during the 1999 massacre at Colorado&amp;amp;#8217;s Columbine High School. My overall message to young women: You are stronger than you think. You can move past tragedy and even become a better, more courageous person because of it. But there is one warning I&amp;amp;#8217;d like to add, specifically for survivors of major accidents and traumatic events: Keep an eye on the money.After I was shot, I spent four months in the hospital, my parents by my side, as physicians attempted to repair my damaged liver and diaphragm and severed spinal cord. While there, after pestering doctors for my prognosis and getting only vague answers, I heard what I thought was the worst possible news anyone could get: I asked a nurse, point blank, &amp;amp;#8220;Am I ever going to walk again?&amp;amp;#8221; and she just looked and me and said, &amp;amp;#8220;Well, no.&amp;amp;#8221; She was the first person to tell me the honest truth. I bawled my eyes out. I knew my life would never go back to the way it was. Today, with her dog, Sadie. With that information came another hard truth: Spinal injuries are expensive. Fortunately, the wonderful people of Colorado and the nation rallied around me. Money poured into a trust fund to pay for my long-term care. By 2010, 11 years later, my life was good&amp;amp;#8212;not all sunshine and rainbows, but good. True, hurdles remained: I was still in a wheelchair and still in pain from my injuries, and still grieving over the untimely death of my mother. But I had graduated from college, was living on my own, had a job in retail and great friends. Unfortunately, my relationship with my father was deteriorating. Because I was only 17 when I was shot, my father had been named trustee of my trust fund. But then came a blow; I found out my dad was spending the fund&amp;amp;#8217;s money in inappropriate ways. It was difficult, but I felt I had to stand up for myself. I contacted a law firm, and as part of a court settlement my dad resigned as trustee and agreed to reimburse the trust, which is now being handled by a Colorado bank. Even though I was emotionally devastated, and we remain estranged, in some ways it was a really positive thing&amp;amp;#8212;I would have been strong enough to stand up for myself like that 10 years earlier. Other Columbine survivors have had similar things happen. I worry about the people in Aurora. I heard that millions of dollars have come in for them and I just caution that if a person is young and has put money in a trust, be sure the trustee is a person from the bank or a third party. Take my word for it: Money and families don&amp;amp;#8217;t always mix. --Anne Marie Hochhalter with Ellen Kampinsky Pick up the October issue of Glamour or download it now to read Anne Marie Hochhalter&amp;#x27;s open letter to the survivors of the Aurora tragedy. Photo: Courtesy of Subject"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/inspired/blogs/the-conversation/2012/09/my-warning-to-aurora-survivors>