‘It makes me angry’: Girl shot in head at Annunciation speaks out
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Eighth grader Lydia Kaiser — who was shot in the head during the mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School on Aug. 27 — shared a message with the public on Thursday.
Lydia was injured protecting a younger student at the time, according to a verified GoFundMe. Her parents told reporters she suffered a traumatic brain injury and had to undergo surgeries to remove bullet fragments and alleviate brain swelling.
She was one of the last shooting victims to be released from the hospital. The last was 12-year-old Sophia Forchas, who moved to an inpatient rehabilitation program in late September, according to her parents.
The two were among the 30 injured in the shooting, including another two who were killed, 10-year-old Harper Moyski and 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel.
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Lydia was back in school just weeks after being released.
An organizer on a verified GoFundMe shared Lydia’s full message to the public:
“Thank you all for supporting me, I’m doing ok. I’ve been allowed to return to school which is great because I missed my friends and it was hard to miss out on so much. I still can’t play sports but I’ve been cheering on my friends and running the scoreboard.
I get tired more than usual but I’m not really getting headaches like I used to.
My hair is starting to grow back and it looks fuzzy where they shaved it off for my surgery. I hope it grows back before I start high school. I don’t think it will grow that fast though.
I’m so sad for Harper’s sister and Fletcher’s siblings. Sometimes I think I’m going to wake up from a dream even though I know what happened is real. It’s so hard to believe I actually got shot, and other kids did too. It makes me angry but I don’t want to let the shooter win. This is my last year at Annunciation. I’ve been going there my whole life and it’s like my home and my family. I’m going to do everything I can to enjoy my 8th grade year. Thank you so much for your prayers and for all your love and support."
Correction (Oct. 27, 2025): An earlier version of this story included an inaccurate number of victims of the Annunciation shooting. It has been updated.
