Raymond Gordon says there was a time when he thought his life was over, but he’s turning tragedy into a way to help others heal.
“I felt like my life was over, man,” Gordon said. “I lived, dreamed, slept, ate football.”
Now 24 years old, Gordon recently earned his master’s degree in social work from Governors State University — a journey inspired by the very people who helped him recover after he was shot as a teenager.
While sitting inside a trauma room at Stroger Hospital, Gordon reflected on the morning nearly a decade ago that changed everything.
“It was a normal day for me,” Gordon said.
On March 27, 2017, Gordon was standing at a bus stop in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood with a friend before 6 a.m., heading to school and wrestling practice, when gunfire erupted.
“Some guys had pulled up and just started shooting at us,” Gordon recalled.
As the shots rang out, Gordon ran.
“It hit me in my main artery,” he said. “As I was running, it felt like I jumped in a pool… and it was like blood.”
Gordon was rushed to Stroger Hospital, where doctors treated the injuries that ended his athletic career. But Gordon says it was the social workers who truly helped change the direction of his life.
“They was kind of helping me realize my strengths,” Gordon said. “After I realized my strengths, that kind of made me get my sense of worth back.”
Andy Wheeler, director of Trauma Recovery and Injury Prevention at Stroger Hospital, was among the social workers who worked with Gordon during his month-long recovery.
“What we provide somebody is the space for them to kind of discover what is already inside of them,” Wheeler said. “Our job isn’t really to help them — it’s to offer them the space to re-engage with what is important to them and what their life can be moving forward.”
The support Gordon received left such a lasting impact that he decided to pursue social work himself.
After earning his undergraduate degree, Gordon continued on to graduate school. Earlier this month, he earned his master’s degree and now hopes to become a trauma intervention specialist — helping survivors of violence navigate the same emotional recovery he once faced.
“A lot of people go through these things, but they don’t understand a way out,” Gordon said. “They think this is the end of the road, like I did. But I want to be living proof that it’s not the end of the road — it’s just a different way of life and redirection.”
At Stroger Hospital, Gordon says he found more than treatment for his physical wounds: he found purpose.
