Wounded Apalachee High School teacher posts message of gratitude for fellow teacher and students who helped save his life

By Chris Boyette, CNN

(CNN) — An Apalachee High School teacher praised for helping save lives after being shot when a student opened fire on the Georgia campus in the year’s deadliest US school shooting, is giving thanks of his own, posting a heartfelt message of gratitude to those that helped him as he lie bleeding on the floor and in his recovery in the days since.

“I would like to thank those who, in the course of all the chaos, found it in themselves to take my life in their hands,” math teacher David Phenix said on his Facebook page. Two students and two teachers were killed in the shooting.

Phenix was shot in his foot and hip when he opened his classroom door on September 4 to see what was causing the banging sounds disturbing his geometry class, according to students who saw it happen.

Phenix fell to the ground after being shot, but managed to shut the door first, student Hazel Biondi told CNN.

Hazel’s mother, Nicole Biondi, said the teacher’s action saved lives. “If Mr. Phenix did not shut that door …” she said, her voice trembling. She further praised him in a Facebook post. “He saved my baby. He saved my world,” she wrote.

“To put into words the events of these past days escape all description. The images, sights, sounds, and actions are immense and will be forever etched in my memory and will take weeks, months, and even years to process,” Phenix posted Sunday. “From anger to mourning to sadness to gratefulness to even feeling blessed to be able to sit here and write this post, processing the reasons behind September 4th will be a long road which will most likely, never be truly understood.”

Phenix described “pangs of sorrow and grief” for the families of those killed in the shooting, and appreciation for the “outpouring of encouragement, support, love and compassion,” as he spent more than eight days recovering in the hospital.

“I was incredibly blessed that the bullet that went into my side and the one that entered my foot managed to miss every vital ligament, tendon, bone, and organ,” Phenix said. “Had things been a quarter inch to the left or right, things could have been vastly different.”

He specifically recognized another teacher who did her best to stop his bleeding and take care of their students.

“To Valerie Lancaster, the math teacher that I co-teach with who managed to put pressure on my wound while, at (the) same time, managing and calming a class of 23 scared, terrified, and panicked teenagers,” Phenix said.

Lancaster, Phenix said, was helped by students to keep him from bleeding out.

“To 2 fourteen-year-old students who filled in for Ms. Lancaster and pressurized my wound while Valerie called for help. You both are exceptional young people and have my everlasting gratitude,” Phenix said.

Phenix extended his gratitude to first responders, including emergency medical technicians and law enforcement, saying things would have been “much worse” without them. He also praised the medical staff at the hospital, who he credited with “servanthood, compassion, and selflessness.”

A husband and father, Phenix lastly gave thanks for his family, “whose love has remained constant, steadfast, and unwavering through all of this,” he said.

He thanked his daughters, empathizing with the stress and emotions they must have felt when he was shot.

Phenix called his wife Leesa Phenix his “rock” and said, “I truly do not know where I would be had you not been by my side throughout every inch of this whole recovery. I love you from the deepest parts of my heart.”

Katie Phenix had posted updates on her father’s condition while he was hospitalized, at one point sharing the first words he spoke as he came out of surgery were, “Is everyone else okay?”

David Phenix concluded his post with the message that he and his family are overcome by the support they received in the wake of the tragedy.

“We will never be able to express our gratitude enough and we are humbled and overwhelmed by those who have reached out to us with unconditional love and acts of kindness,” Phenix wrote. “For me, there is both a physical and mental road back to some degree to normalcy.”

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.