Shot in face 30 years ago at age 6, KC survivor suffers new health crisis on family trip

Tashay Campbell, who 30 years ago was shot in the face at age 6, and whose saga in The Star then captivated readers, now lies in a Miami hospital after suffering a stroke on a family cruise.

Campbell, 36, had traveled less than one day out of port, headed toward the Bahamas, when on Saturday, May 18, she woke and, at about 10 a.m., appeared to lose control of her right side, her sister, Tashyra Campell, told The Star. Campbell was airlifted from the cruise ship to Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital and underwent surgery to remove pressure on her brain, her sister said.

“She had a feeding tube in. She had a breathing tube in. They took those out,” Tashyra Campbell said Friday. “She’s woke, but she’s not speaking.”

Campbell established a GoFundMe page to pay to transport her sister back to Kansas City and for later medical and rehabilitation bills.

In February 1994, Tashay, age 6, was shot in the face when a bullet — gone astray from cars involved in a high-speed shootout — pierced the window of her grandmother’s home at 51st Street and The Paseo. The Star, in a front page story meant to humanize a plague in childhood gun violence, chronicled Campbell’s story from the moment she entered the emergency room at Children Mercy Hospital, through her late-night surgery, and to her later care and recovery.

This year, just before the 30th anniversary of the shooting, Campbell reached out to The Star to talk about the course of her life.

“I’ve had a good life,” she told The Star. She was working helping provide day care at a local hospital. “I’ve had some bad times. Overall, it’s good. … I’m still here.”

“I’m really strong,” she had said. “I’ve been through a lot.”