The day after Christmas, more than two years ago, Brooklyn Rouse was shot twice, in two different places on her head, while delivering pizza.
It caused permanent nerve damage.
“Kinda mind-blowing, mind-boggling, mind-whatever-you-want-to-call-it,” said Rouse.
Rouse still goes to physical therapy today, and she is determined to stay positive.
“Sometimes I'm looking back, and I think I should not have taken the delivery, but at the same time, I think if it wasn't me, it wouldn't have been someone else, and they might not have had the same recovery as me,” said Rouse.
The accident, as she calls it, gave her a new outlook on life. She’s been traveling to New York and Jamaica, where she conquered her fear of deep water.
Now, Rouse thinks she has a new way to help her hometown.
Rouse says people now know her as pizza girl, but she doesn't want what happened or that name to define her. That why she's starting her own nonprofit called 'Ahead of the Curve.'
It is geared at giving kids something to do with their parents, and trying to prevent them from any criminal activity and get them closer to their family.
“Even if it’s just one thing or one person, I want to make a change for Macon,” said Rouse.
She says shootings keep happening in Macon, because there is nothing for young people to do, so they turn to crime.
“I have lots of ideas, but, it has to be right. I’m not going to do it if it doesn't feel right,” said Rouse.
While Christmas brings up some bad memories for her, it's also a reminder that every day is a gift.
Rouse made a video announcing the nonprofit's creation and is still considering suggestions on the group's purpose.