LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY)-- Lafayette Police Officer Hali Bradford, who is overcoming being paralyzed in her foot while shot in the line of duty, shared how the road to recovery has been difficult, but said things are taking a turn for the better.
"It has been a huge struggle of mine going from a CrossFit athlete to being paralyzed. It's been really hard for me to still accept that today and cope with that and this new me that I've had to live with for about a year now,” Bradford said.
During the shooting on August 5, 2023, on South General Marshall Street Officer Bradford was responding to a domestic disturbance when she was shot. She remembers her husband Adam Bradford, who was also a police officer at Lafayette Police Department being one of many who saved her life.
"He actually found me the night of the shooting, almost dead on the side of the road, and transported me to the hospital,” she said.
The two just got married three weeks before the shooting and two days after the shooting was Bradford’s 25th birthday.
"It's been a journey and we're trying to work through the struggles and just work on ourselves and our relationship through this difficult process,” she said.
While looking back on the journey and all she has overcome the road to recovery continues. Now doing treatment with a doctor in Lake Charles she has seen progress in her now partially paralyzed foot.
In addition to the cost of treatment she needs being expensive, doors are opening up.
"At this moment worker's comp is working on attempting to make an exception just because of the journey that I'm on, and the injuries that I've sustained in the line of duty but unfortunately, they cannot guarantee anything either and so a gofundme has been set up so that way I can receive some medical donations for the treatment that I am receiving,” she said
Bradford hopes to one day have full use of her foot and return to being a police officer.
"I have loved serving my community since I was a child. I knew what I was always going to do. I joined the military, went to college, and then came to Lafayette Police Department, where I've worked nights in precinct four ever since,” she said. "My ultimate goal was to be able to return to being with my squad and serving the great city of Lafayette."
