'Everlasting gratitude': Injured Apalachee High School teacher thanks teacher, students who saved his life

WINDER, Ga. - A Georgia teacher is thanking the coworkers and students who saved his life and helped his recovery after he was shot during the deadly shooting at Apalachee High School earlier this month.

On Sept. 4, math teacher David Phenix was shot in the foot and hip when he reportedly went out to check on some noises during his geometry class.

According to CNN, Phenix was able to shut his classroom door, possibly saving the lives of his students.

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Students embrace near a makeshift memorial at Apalachee High School on September 5, 2024 in Winder, Georgia. Two students and two teachers were shot and killed at the school on September 4, and a 14-year-old suspect, who is a student at the school, i

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Writing on Facebook, the mother of one of Phenix's students said that his actions at that moment made all the difference.  

"I pray for her classmates and am so blessed that Mr. Phoenix was still able to get that door shut," Nicole Biondi wrote. "He saved my baby. He saved my world."

The gunshot shattered Phenix's hip and left him bleeding on his classroom's floor. After over eight days in the hospital, the math teacher is now back home continuing his recovery.

"To put into words the events of these past days escape all description. The images, sights, sounds, and actions are immense and will be forever etched in my memory and will take weeks, months, and even years to process. Right now, my emotions are so much easier to describe than the justifications and reasons behind them," Phenix wrote on Facebook on Sunday. "From anger to mourning to sadness to gratefulness to even feeling blessed to be able to sit here and write this post, processing the reasons behind September 4th will be a long road which will most likely, never be truly understood."

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While Phenix says there's a lot of work to go before he's back to normal, he was "incredibly blessed" that the bullets missed his vital organs. 

He specifically thanked his co-teacher who quickly sprung into action when he saw his injuries and kept his class from panicking.

"To Valerie Lancaster, the Math teacher that I co-teach with who managed to put pressure on my wound while, at same time, managing and calming a class of 23 scared, terrified, and panicked teenagers," he said.

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Phenix also shared his thanks with two students in his class who pressurized his wound while Lancaster called for help. 

"You both are exceptional young people and have my everlasting gratitude," he wrote.

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The math teacher also thanked the first responders and nurses and doctors at Piedmont Athens Hospital who have handled his treatment as well as his family, "whose love has remained constant, steadfast, and unwavering through all of this."

As he continues his recovery, Phenix said that he and his wife Leesa have been overwhelmed by the support from the community and around the world. 

"The outpouring of encouragement, support, love and compassion in the form of words, deeds, posts, messages, gifts, and prayers has been a massive gift to Leesa and me as well as the rest of our family," he wrote. "We will never be able to express our gratitude enough and we are humbled and overwhelmed by those who have reached out to us with unconditional love and acts of kindness."

He's asking for people to continue to pray for the families of the other victims.

You can read the full post below: