TAMPA, Fla. (WFTS) — October marks Domestic Violence Awareness Month. It’s a topic that isn’t often discussed because it’s hard for many people to open up, but Tracy Otto is sharing her tough story in hopes that someone currently in a bad situation will hear it.

“I can’t sit here and justify not telling the story of what happened to me and my fiance because, you know, it could help and save lives all over the world,” she said.

Otto admits that it is difficult to bring back that day: October 24, 2019.

“Ricky and I were on our second date, and it was just like any other day, you know, we kind of hung out. And I just got back from Chicago and I visited my brother and we had our date and it was still great and we went to bed that night and we were woken up by a very bright light and someone yelling in our face to we get out of bed,” she recalled.

The person yelling at them was her ex-boyfriend.

“He looked out my window and saw us sleeping and he went to Walmart and bought a high powered pellet gun as well as a knife and I think handcuffs. He came back, broke in, woke us up and told us that he was going to kill us and that if he didn’t kill himself he was going to call the police and he started breaking it all up finally stabbing me in the back of the head which that paralyzed me from the chest down,” she said. “He also fired the high-powered pellet gun through my left eye, so I’m half blind. My left eye is missing and he did a bunch of other really horrible things that I won’t describe now, but yeah, that’s the gist of what happened.”

Otto is smiling brightly, although he is now taking it day by day.

“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about what happened or, you know, it doesn’t cross my mind. But to get past that, really… it’s such a hard question to answer. , because when you have no choice, you have to go on, you know, I’m in this body and this is my life now.

And her life has moved on since the brutal attack. There’s a lot to catch up on. But we’ll start with how Otto used her tragedy to become a Paralympian, competing in the Paris 2024 Paralympics.

“I was driving down I-4, and I look at Ricky and I’m like, ‘Why don’t we shoot the bow?’ And he says, “Girl, your hands don’t work. How will you shoot the bow?” I’ll figure it out too, I don’t know, we’ll figure it out.

That was in 2021. He found a place in Tampa to learn archery and kept up with it.

“I kind of lit a fire inside of me and I felt like it went out because of what happened,” she said.

And during that trip to Paris, Ricky, the man who was by her side when her ex-boyfriend attacked her, proposed at the Eiffel Tower. And she said she was pregnant.

Tracy Otto

“The biggest thing is you can’t quit. You can’t stop, you have to keep going and you have to, you know, fulfill this, that passion and just take on the world and do what you want. they want to do and live a productive, healthy and happy life,” she said.

And that gives him strength to talk about that attack five years ago.

“I love that we have Domestic Violence Awareness Month to shine a light on what’s going on. I mean, it shouldn’t even be a thing, to be honest with you. We shouldn’t have it, but we do, and we’re working on it. And like I said, I just hope that I can be the best advocate that I can be and bring light to the situation and help as many people as I can,” said it.

Otto also thanks the State Attorney’s Office for their services along the way.

The State Prosecutor’s Office has a team of Advocates for Victims. They accompany the survivors to court. They notify you of court dates, they sit with you at those hearings, there from day one.

Additional resources include career counseling, clothing and a place to live, which are provided through a partnership with The Spring.

If you or someone you know is going through something similar, we want you to know that there is help.

You can call 1-800-500-1119 for help. We have even more resources Here.