AUSTIN, Texas — Back in November, KVUE introduced you to a remarkable woman named Carolyn Thomas. In her 20s, Thomas was living in Waco, in a long-term on-again, off-again abusive relationship.
In 2003, Thomas' boyfriend shot her at point-blank range, shattering 80% of her face. During this event, her mother was shot and killed. Although the story may sound grim, that fateful day prompted Thomas to push for domestic violence awareness.
While doctors have spent years working to reconstruct her face, Thomas has worked hard to rebuild her life. Thomas explained that at the end of January, she was fitted for a new prosthetic nose. The small procedure was done at MD Anderson in Houston, alongside her 27th surgery to reconstruct her eye socket.
"So everybody has an eye socket. but when I got shot, mine got shattered. And so he had to create a new eye socket to be able to hold my prosthetic eye if that makes sense," Thomas said.
Thomas has turned her pain into purpose and now mentors women all over the country. Her nonprofit, Voices4All Foundation, aims to raise enough money to hold a self-defense class in Houston for domestic abuse survivors.
Thomas said she wants to be a resource for any woman who needs help.
"I had a young lady reach out to me. Her daughter had gotten shot, and she was trying to move out of an area to be away from the baby's father's family. And so I did my research and made a couple of calls. I put her in contact with someone that can help her," Thomas said. "So basically, my organization has been doing things like that. We get school supplies, school uniforms for women of domestic violence to help with their kids. As you may know, this is only my first year here in Houston. So I'm still kind of trying to get my feet wet."
In addition to her work with her nonprofit, Thomas is working with an Austin production company on a new documentary that highlights her story.
If you would like to donate to help Thomas, you can reach out to KVUE's Yvonne Nava for more information. Email ynava@kvue.com.