WASHINGTON — Doctors once feared the worst for 27-year-old Tina Frost, who was shot in the eye in the Las Vegas mass shooting. Now, the Crofton, Maryland, native is out of intensive care, and even playing soccer with her father in the hospital hallways.
This week is much better than last for Tina Frost, who on Tuesday spoke her first words since the Oct. 1 shooting. Last week, Frost was fighting a fever and still recovering from brain surgery, but is now able to leave her hospital bed and has been transferred out of the Intensive Care Unit at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, said family spokeswoman Amy Klinger.
Frost has been working with a speech therapist, and Klinger says her tracheotomy tube has been adjusted so she can speak freely — in one instance about her parents’ recent travels to see her sister’s soccer game.
“She was able to say what school she goes to and which sister it was, and she answered those questions without hesitation and without problem. It’s really, really amazing,” Klinger said.
Frost was shot through her right eye and rescued by her boyfriend and another friend, who got her to the hospital quickly. She lost her eye as well as her sinus on the right side, which Klinger said could affect her sense of smell, and even her balance.
The fact she’s able to speak now could mean that her doctors can better assess any possible brain damage the accountant may have sustained to the area of the brain behind her eye.
“The front parts of the brain control judgment and personality. It definitely seems like her personality is there. They’ll obviously test for judgment and other things,” Klinger said. However, the lifelong soccer player is exhibiting her love of the game, passing a ball back and forth with her father while standing.
“Obviously they were just gently passing it. But if the ball went away from where she was, she moved it back with her foot. She controlled the ball like a soccer player,” Klinger said.
Frost has started eating solid food, is able to get up to use the bathroom and is showing signs she can make decisions about her care, which are all major steps, Klinger said.
“She’s made unbelievable progress; where a month ago the doctors were saying, ‘We just don’t know.’ Now she’s one month out and she’s walking.”
