TAMPA, Fla. — Vivian and Demarian Ackers are finding the time to smile, laugh and even joke.
"If I made it through this. Everybody makes the joke that like 'Oh, you fifty cent. I'm like yeah, call me a dollar,'" she said.
Sitting in a hospital bed in Tampa General is easier for them, knowing the outcome of a shooting one week ago could have been vastly different.
"Every day, I'm like, 'Lord, thank you for my life, giving me back my life' because before, we were just so down on ourselves. Like we're trying so hard, but we felt like we're not getting anywhere," she said.
But on October 5, their lives changed. The family of five was asleep in their car, they had just finished a long day of delivering DoorDash meals, trying to make up for income lost during Hurricane Ian.
Demarian woke up in the middle of the night, noticing the sheet covering his window had been moved.
"All of a sudden, I hear sounds like hard knocking, and then it starts going fast, and I know this sound. You know it's not no regular, you know, noise. Everybody you know can hear when it's a gun," he said.
Demarian said Vivian fell out of the car, pleading for help.
"It was like both she and the hole in her head was basically looking directly at me. And I'm not a doctor. So I'm thinking I'm losing my wife. I'm losing everything that I know," Demarian recalled.
Vivian was the only person in the car shot. She said she never expected that would be how she saw her first sonogram. The mom-to-be is four months pregnant.
"I just don't know what I would do if I lost another one. We've lost so many miscarriages, stillbirth, we lost our 3-month-old," she said.
The nine-millimeter bullet is currently lodged in her skull. She said doctors told her if she had been shot just inches lower or at a closer range, she wouldn't have survived it.
Further surgery won't happen until it's safer for the baby.
"You could never fathom or think that someone would go to do something like that," she said.
Tampa Police arrested 21-year-old Christopher Stamat that following Saturday for the shooting.
According to police, Stamat said he felt people were stalking and following him in different cars.
"This man circled the neighborhood. Then he circled our car five times before he shot at our car thirteen times. Yeah, yeah, we didn't know him from a hole in the wall. Come to find out, he lived in my mom's apartment complex," Demarian said.
Vivian said she's grateful for her family, especially her twin sister. They're another factor in her good spirits.
"I will forever be indebted to my family for coming through. We love them so much. I had to say that. I just wanted to get that out because family is so important. Being homeless and people going through things, you sometimes feel alone, and that's what we were somewhat like that night," Vivian said. "We were actually asking God to bring us all together, no matter what way, shape or form. It's crazy that it happened this way, but it's a blessing in disguise because everyone is hugging each other tight and loving each other, calling everybody every day."
Help is even pouring from people not related to the Ackers. They're still searching for a place to live and a car once Vivian is discharged from the hospital.
"The Department of Children and Families has stepped up to help us. They're in the process of doing so and talking about it a little. You know a couple of things in the backdrop we won't spill out too much yet, because we know we don't want our blessings tied up until gossip unravels them."
Despite everything, the Ackers say they don't people to view them as victims.
"I'm not a victim. I refuse to claim it. I'm a survivor. Okay? And nobody else is going to tell you that. They're not going to label me. If I'm not going to label myself, then don't put it on me."
