A Nanaimo woman was shot in the face and hand early Saturday morning when she intervened with a friend in distress at her family home.
Friends say Regina Hampson intervened when her roommate tried to kill himself with a loaded 12-gauge shotgun.
“There was a loaded gun involved, and she went to remove that gun from him. … And in that process, the gun had gone off,” Michael Mercer told CHEK News.
Hampson was shot in the face and hand.
“It was incredibly selfless and heroic that she gave no regard for her own safety,” said Jo-Lynne Wikkerink, who has started a online fundraising page for Hampson. “Her friend was in danger and she intervened.”
Hampson, who is in hospital in Vancouver, is in a great deal of pain, her partner Jason Culley said Tuesday in a video update. Doctors plan to operate Wednesday to try to save her right eye. Hampson will also undergo a bone and nerve transplant next week in an effort to save her thumb.
“There’s love and understanding here and we’ll get through this,” Culley says in the video, as Hampson cries quietly in the background.
Culley also expressed compassion for their friend in distress.
The fundraising page says the couple always have their door open and had recently taken in someone who was trying to get his life back on track. They did not know he had serious mental health issues.
“Anyone who has had the pleasure of knowing Regina knows how incredibly kind and loving she is. She is an exceptional mother and stepmother, an incredibly supportive partner and friend, and a genuinely good person. She saved this man’s life, and sacrificed her own well-being during the process. She is selfless beyond measure. This woman is a warrior, a hero,” says the fundraiser, which has already raised $37,000.
Hampson faces a long road to recovery and will need to take time off work. Culley will also have to take time off work to support her during this time. The couple has three children.
The couple wants people to know their friend didn’t mean to harm Hampson, but they hope this incident will push him to get the help he needs. Twenty-per cent of the donations will be donated to local mental health support organizations.
