by A woman credits a bodysuit from ‘s shapewear company with saving her life.
The upcoming American horror story actress took to her Instagram story on Friday to repost a May 18 repost in which a 22-year-old Kansas City resident named Angelina Wiley claimed she helped her survive a mass shooting.
The video went viral on social media earlier this week and in the comments section of the TikTok, Wiley’s followers tagged SKIMS and Kardashian in hopes that the reality star would eventually see Wiley’s story.
“Kim Kardashian saved my life,” Wiley said in the video. “The night I was shot, I was wearing a SKIMS shaping bodysuit under my dress. It was so tight on me that it literally kept me from bleeding out. I advise it. I’m definitely going to buy some more, I mean I should wear it every day – it’s like body armor for women… Call it fate, or Jesus, but I call it Kim.
Kardashian wrote “Wowwww” under the reposted video.
Speaking to Yahoo Life on the phone, Wiley explains that it happened in Kansas City on New Year’s Day, when Wiley was waiting for a car to go home after partying with friends. It left her with four gunshot wounds, a ruptured bladder and a broken pelvic bone.
Wiley wore the SKIMS Sculpt String Body during the shoot and believing that SKIMS helped protect her from further damage, Wiley contacted the company to let them know of her experience. She says they gave her a refund on her original purchase as well as a discount.
Wiley notes that she appreciates the brand’s commitment to “empowering women” and wanted to share how she thinks their product has helped her. Prior to the shooting, Wiley was studying criminal justice online, an interest she and Kardashian — a criminal justice reform advocate who is studying to become a lawyer — share.
Where compression comes in after a shot
It is unknown if SKIMS may have impacted Wiley’s ability to survive the shooting, and the bodysuits have no medical purpose.
Hubert Wong, MD, chief of emergency medicine at MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, Calif., previously told Yahoo that there are situations where someone has been shot and emergency personnel haven’t arrived yet.
First, it’s vital to remove yourself from the shooter and make sure you’re in a safe place. When you are in a safe place to do this, apply direct, local pressure to any wound with external bleeding.
“Some of these wounds can be quite serious and do significant damage, but try applying local pressure with a small piece of clothing,” he said. “Applying a few fingers of direct pressure will maximize the chance of stopping the bleeding.”
Wong added that on more serious wounds, direct pressure may not be effective.
Life after surviving a shooting
Wiley has been updating her 12,000+ followers on her life on TikTok. She still has a bullet in her stomach, which she says insurance won’t cover removing, and she currently has thousands of dollars in medical bills from the shooting. Friends started one for her so she “don’t have to worry about spending while she recovers,” according to the site.
Wiley adds that it was initially “difficult” to make videos about her experience because she would get comments saying she was “milking” her situation.
“It made me feel bad because I started to feel like, with shootings, if you don’t die, it doesn’t matter,” she notes. “It was like, because I was alive, it wasn’t a problem.”
However, Wiley eventually found people who supported her and is now using TikTok to share her progress. She’s also spoken about recent mental health challenges, as that sounded like the rapid-fire gunfire she was experiencing.
“It completely changed me,” she says of the shooting. “Every day is just so exhausting because I am constantly tense. Before the shooting happened, I had heard about it [post-traumatic stress disorder], and I knew that the Fourth of July was a struggle for some people, like veterans, but I never quite understood it – you can’t fully understand it until it happens. When Fourth of July arrived, the first since the shooting, it was terrible. It was probably one of the worst moments since the shooting.”
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