Jessica Milam, daughter of CDCR employee Ed Milam, was enjoying the concert in Las Vegas when the shooting started. She was shot in the abdomen and was finally sent home from the hospital more than a month later.
‘She really had no medical reason to make it through this,’ father Ed Milam says
By Don Chaddock, Inside CDCR editor
CDCR Construction Supervisor II Ed Milam received a phone call with news no parent wants to hear – his 23-year-old daughter Jessica had been gravely injured during the mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas.
He received the call less than an hour after the Oct. 1 shooting that resulted in 59 deaths and injured hundreds more.
Jessica Milam, a Disneyland employee, is home recuperating. Her father is a longtime CDCR employee.
Jessica, a Disneyland employee, was finally released from a Las Vegas hospital Nov. 4, more than a month after she was shot in the abdomen. The bullet damaged her kidney and liver, requiring her to undergo a blood transfusion, dialysis and emergency surgery. Doctors also found shrapnel in her lungs.
For the first week, she was on life support in the hospital’s intensive care unit in Las Vegas.
Milam started his CDCR career in 1996 and works under CDCR Facilities Planning, Construction and Management.
Inside CDCR waited until she was released from the hospital before catching up with him by phone to check on Jessica’s progress.
“It was shocking to get that phone call. It was unreal,” he recalled. “I had been in Alaska for a week and I knew she was making that trip to Vegas. I sent Jessica a text the Friday night before that happened to tell her to be careful and be aware of her surroundings. I had only been home from Alaska for about 10 hours when I got that phone call.”
Asleep when the call came in, it left him shaken.
“I was shocked and numb from wondering what’s going on,” he said.
He’s thankful for the amount of information they were provided early in the process. Many other families reported waiting for hours or a few days before they knew what was happening, due to the large number of people injured and killed that night.
“When we got the initial phone call, there was a lot of information. We knew she had been shot, there was a shooting at this concert, she had been transported to a hospital and was going into surgery,” he said. “We got a lot of information in that initial call that others didn’t necessarily get. We got a phone call in the early morning hours that she was out of surgery and was stable.”
He and his wife headed to Las Vegas, thanks to some help from a farm contractor in Sanger who had a private plane. They packed light, not realizing the extent of Jessica’s injuries or how long she would be in the hospital. Once there, they knew they would be in Las Vegas much longer than expected.
Milam knew they were going to need transportation. After a phone call, a CDCR coworker jumped in to help.
“Luis DeCastro, a Construction Supervisor I at Corcoran, was at my house within an hour and loaded up my pickup into a trailer and delivered it to me in Las Vegas,” he said.
Construction Supervisor II Ed Milam has worked for CDCR since 1996.
On Oct. 4, the family was told her chances were grim and they tried to prepare themselves for the worst.
“Exactly one month before she was released from the hospital, we were told she probably wasn’t going to make it,” Milam said.
Today, she’s on the mend.
“She’s doing well. She’s had a couple of follow-up visits from a physician and lung specialist from Central California,” Milam said. “This lung specialist who had never seen the case looked all through the X-rays at the time from Nevada. He said he was amazed she even lived and had all this normal function. She obviously has some scarring in her lungs. It looks like we really got away with one over there.”
According to Milam, his daughter will probably be able to return to work in the next few months.
“There has been so much aid and prayer and support, I’d like to thank anybody who did anything in support of us during this time,” he said. “It’s just my sincere thanks. Given her story and situation, had her parents not been there and there had not been so much overwhelming prayer, I don’t think she would have lived.”
As his family sits down to Thanksgiving dinner this month, he knows the outcome could have been much worse for Jessica.
“She really had no medical reason,” he said, “to make it through this.”
I would like to thank you all for your gifts, support, correspondence, messages, actions and prayers during this time. Jessica is recovering well and we wish you all the best and happy holidays.
Ed, I just got the good news that your daughter has been released from the hospial and is back home. Thank God for his faithfulness to prayers. I’m happy for you and your family.
As a daughter with a mom and dad and knowing you both were probably worried sick during all this, and then to find out your daughter is ALIVE and on the mend just made my Thanksgiving!!! So grateful that good news like this is shared on this site. I may not know you personally, but I know what its like to be a daughter with a dad who loves me dearly and I am so happy to hear your daughter is doing well. GOD BLESS YOUR FAMILY and HAPPY THANKSGIVING to your family! 🙂
Ed, my family and I are overjoyed that Jessica is recovering as well as she is. On this, the most memorable Thanksgiving on record for the Milam Family, the Scott Family will raise a toast (of sparkling apple juice) to the health and continued recovery of your daughter.
All of our thoughts and prayers are with your family this Christmas season.
Also, as a family that has gone through the same thing some years ago, we know all too well that this is a tragedy that will take years to heal from — both physically and emotionally. If you, Jessica or anyone need to talk, please, please don’t hesitate to call.
Wishing you and yours the most joyous of holiday seasons!
Ed, So happy and releived to finally hear the Great news for Jessica and your family! And a heart-warming story of friends that stepped up to help – THANKSGIVING every day! Wishing you all the best and continued healing and health for Jessica!
Lynn Young
Ed, we are keeping your Family in our Prayers and will continue to Pray for a speedy recovery.
Tears came to my eyes as I read the good news! Congratulations on Jessica’s release from the hospital, Ed. You are a blessed family. Take care Jessica!
Praise the Lord.
The Lord works in mysterious ways. get well soon
May God continue to bless your daughter and your family. Stay strong in FAITH!
So happy to hear that your daughter is recovering and doing well. May God continue to bless her and your family.
Take care friend.
It’s an amazing story! God is great, may God continue to bless your daughter and your family
Miracle.. what a brave, strong girl. So happy that she made it out of such a tragic, horrific event, wish the best for her and her family through her recovery.
x
WOW, Prayers answered. The road to recovery is on the way. God is Great.
We have all waited a long time for the news that Jessica, Ed and his wife could return to California and begin to heal and to share this poignant story. We have admired the strength of the Milam family as they want through this roller coaster ordeal and are very thankful that they made it through. Hoping you all continue to heal from this tragedy and find strength in each other.
Wow, what a story. It almost leaves a person speechless. Thank God for family and friends…..and thank God your daughter is alive and able to tell her story.
God’s work,wow this story inspired me that with God nothing is impossible. May God continue to bless you and your family.
Sounds like a miracle. So nice to hear a positive outcome from this tragedy. I wish her continued good health.
Ed, thank God for his blessings over how things turned out. Luckily your brother Rich works here with us and was able to keep us up to date on the latest. Just know we were praying for you and your family. What a great Thanksgiving this will be.
Thank God she is alive and back with family, so happy for you. Also thank GOD for the CDCR family, they always come through. 🙂
Ed, I am glad it turned out well. My prayers were with you as always. Lots to be grateful for this year.
Take care my friend
Your story is amazing. It is great to hear the support from your coworker delivering the truck and the friend who flew you to Vegas. Your daughter sounds like an extremely strong girl. I hope you all fully recover mentally, emotionally, and physically. Stay strong!
We are thankful that Jessica came home. The entire Procurement Support staff for FPCM view our IWL folks as family so this really hit us all hard when we heard the initial news.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas Holiday, God bless you and your family.
I’m glad your daughter made it back alive and wish for her a swift recovery!
I am so happy to hear that your daughter is recovering from her traumatic injuries. May you and your family have a blessed Thanksgiving filled with love, laughter and remembrances of good times and people in your lives.
May God’s blessings continue to pour over your family!
Amazing story 🙂 Glad all turned out well for your beloved daughter.
Great news Ed, positive energy is a strong force and there seemed to be a whole lot of it directed Jessica’s way! This is the best thing I have heard in a long time
Thank God your daughter made it through this horrible tragedy, it is wonderful to hear that she is doing so much better. As a parent I can only imagine all the heartache you’ve been through. I pray that God will continue to heal Jessica and that he will continue to bless you and your family. Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas.
So happy to hear that your daughter survived this horrific nonsense shooting in Vegas. God Bless her with strength and God Bless your family.
Lord, your Word speaks promises of healing and restoration and I thank you for the miracles you still perform today. Today I claim those promises over Jessica and her family. I believe in the healing power of faith and prayer and I ask you to begin your mighty work in the life of Jessica. Please reach down and surround them with supernatural peace and strength and give her the faith to believe that all things are possible for you. Protect her and let her miraculous healing continue. Amen
Wow! What an amazing story. From the tragedy, to the friends that stepped up to help, and of course, to her miraculous recovery. Medical technology and prayer was certainly at work. Blessings to her and the Milam Family. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and Holiday Season.
Ed I’m sooo very happy you got your baby back safely, she is a strong girl, God Bless you and your family. 🙂
Good News! Get better soon!