It's shortly before 03:00 a. M. In Concord, North Carolina, and Stacey Fulmoreawakons to the sound of her daughter, Alea, screaming.

Hey, I need 911. Something wrong with my daughter.

What's going on with her? Is she bleeding.

Anywhere, ma'am? It might be a little bit. I don't know what happened.

What happened? She's hurting us. I don't know what went wrong.

With her baby.

She.

Wasn't talking. It was just like she was turning blue.

They're on the way. We got them on the way. Sergeant Larry Fry and Deputy Matthew Trigger were close by on what seemed like a routine night when they got the call. As they arrive at the scene, Alia's twin sister, Alia, runs outside in her pajamas.

Hey, what's going on? I don't know.

What's wrong.

With my sister. She's just.

Down there. I don't know what to do.

Alaya. Hello?

Inside, her mother, confused, distraught.

Where's she at? Right here in between the bed. She would just walk up, hollering. She woke up hollering. I don't know what's wrong.

Alaya, losing consciousness, lodged between her bed and the wall. I saw she had a gunshot wound to her stomach, and I knew I had to do something. I got pressure on the wound. I put gloves on to held pressure.

To the wound. Every tiny second counts. Your job was to save 10 seconds, and then the EMS job is saving 10 seconds. The surgeon has 20 seconds to play with to be able to save someone's life.

Each second feeling like an eternity. Alaya. How old are you, baby? Talk to me. Gunfire had erupted outside of the foremore's apartment. A hail of more than 30 bullets pierced through their home that night. One of them striking a then 13-year-old Alaya in her stomach. Let's not bleed now, but there's no exit one.

Okay. I was like saying, take me. Don't take her. I was just like, take me.

We're going to be getting an.

Iv on you, okay? One girl, one bullet. A moment in time that would change Alea's life forever and impact so many of those around her. And that's the one thing I have to think about. What if this was my kid? That hurt.

She needed every fight that night in order to live.

Aleya fighting to survive after being caught in the crossfire. Like thousands of other children just like her, each year, gun violence is now the leading cause of death for kids in the US, surpassing car accidents. So far this year, more than 1,500 children under the age of 18 have been killed by guns. Over 270 under age 11. From firearms left undetended.

Police in Jacksonville, Florida, are investigating a nine-year-old who.

Reportedly shot and killed a six-year-old. To kids getting caught in the crossfire.

Tonight, a.

Little boy is in the.

Hospital after.

He was shot in the Bronx. To innocent children shot by neighbors. A man in Louisiana is now accused of shooting a 14-year-old girl who is playing hide and seek around his property. More than 4,000 children were injured. These injuries and deaths are increasingly common. Every day an average of 23 kids are shot in the US.

This hearing will come to order.

The situation is so dire that last year, a Senate committee held a hearing titled, Protecting America's Children from Gun Violence. I plead.

With you to pass commincess gun legislation so children and youth can grow up.

In safe communities. I'm tired of seeing sidewalk shrines with teddy bears and candles. Still, efforts by Congress to pass any impactful gun control measures have fallen apart time and time again.

I think it's becoming normal. It's becoming like, did you hear about the shooting down the street? Or did you hear about the shooting at the mall? Even if you're not directly impacted, you feel it.

What would your message be to the American public about the damage that guns can cause?

Before you pull the trigger, just think about if that was your friend, your family member, how would you treat the situation? Because one little bullet can shut down everything.

I'm hungry, you're.

Not going to.

Eat me. I want roast, I want rice, I want cornbread.

A smile, a laugh. Oh, really? A mouthful of grandma's homemade comfort food. These small moments are precious to Aleya's family. How are you doing? And reminders of what they could have lost one year ago on the night of July eighth, 2022.

I was going to sleep, and then it was like, boy, he was outside arguing. It was so loud. They were just cussing. The shots just started happening. I just felt something go through my stomach. I hopped up and ran.

So you heard a sound, a series of sounds, and you knew it was gunfire?

Yeah, it was loud. Like, so loud.

A single bullet left a trail of destruction inside her body, clichéing from organ to organ, tearing through her intestines, her colon, and the main artery carrying blood to her legs.

There was a very high risk that she was not going to survive her initial injuries.

Her heart stopped once en route, and they were able to perform CPR, give her medication, restarted it. When she got to the atrium cabareous facility in the Emergency Department, her heart stopped again, and they had to perform her emergency surgery on her chest to open it up.

What's going to your mind? Is it Lord, have mercy?

Save her, better survive. Keep her heart beating.

They were telling us, Look, your daughter is very sick. They were pretty much saying she's not going to make it because the more blood they gave her, the more blood she bled out.

In that first five hours of resuscitation, she received greater than 50 units of blood product in total during.

That time. To put it in perspective, that amount of blood products is about 10 times her actual blood volume. The shock wave around a bullet can cause major injuries to especially a small body, such as a lase.

One bullet can cause an incredible amount of damage.

Yes, certainly. This is the bullet that is lodged in the back of her pelvic region.

And to this day, it's still there. Never removed out of fear that the extraction could cause more damage.

It was a nightmare because she had all these tubes. She had chest tubes on this side, this side, and she had wound backs on this side from her leg, and then her stomach laid open. It was like a lot.

Lea's road to recovery would be a long one. Two months in the hospital and a dedicated medical team on call 24-7 to save their young patient. And how many surgeries, let's say, did she have in the first three days?

I counted around 26 surgeries that she has had in total, and about two-thirds of those occurred in the first week.

Her family always at her bedside.

Love you, Lea.

Love you, girl.

Eventually, tiny miracles. The first time a Lea opens her eyes.

And.

After a few weeks, finally being able to leave her hospital bed. How did that air feel in your face for the first time?

It felt good. I haven't been outside in so long. I just.

Wanted to go home. You just wanted to go home?

Yeah, I thought when I get on the regular patient floor, I could go home. Then they dropped another three weeks on me. It was the longest three weeks ever.

Finally, the moment when Doctor said she could go back home. How would you describe her case in one word?

Simply miraculous. Her recovery, her ability to survive this horrific type of injury is nothing short of miraculous.

But like many families impacted by gun violence, surviving is not the end of the battle. Nearly a year after she was shot, Aalayah was still using crutches, waiting on surgery to help fix her leg. I see.

You have to go, Mama.

Aalaya couldn't go back to school for six months. Even then, she could only make it through half a day of classes, taking a special school-provided car instead of making memories on the bus with her sister. The trauma of what Aalaya's gone through still lingers.

Cars and stuff doesn't bother me. The backburn and stuff, it bothers her more. A couple of weeks ago, she had a panic attack and fainted at school because they were doing some project at school.

Loud noises? Yes. They experiment. And it was like popping noises and stuff, and I think- They.

Didn't even give us a warning.

What do you want to be able to do freely without crutches?

Walk. That's what I wanted to do for the longest.

Stacey moved her family to a new house where they could feel safer. Authorities have not yet identified a suspect in the shooting.

I wasn't going to put her back in the environment. I wasn't going to put neither one of them back. I didn't even want to stay there myself.

She had to reduce her hours as a health care worker to take care of her daughter, and has relied on donations from a GoFundMe to help pay the medical bills. So far, she says those bills have come out to more than a half a million dollars and counting. Lea's family, including her Aunt Rosaline, putting her lives on hold to care for her.

When I first realized that she had another day of life, I made a conscious decision that I'm just going to be there for whatever she need it along the way, no matter what it was.

And specifically, what did that entail?

Being her caretaker, helping her mom, being here almost 24/7, and just being available, wherever I could be. I don't have the traits or the traits of use and need, I was going to be.

But all these changes have not dampened the spirit of this brave and determined teen.

I'm ready to get my first job at 14, but she won't take us to go get our workers permit.

Where are you going to work?

I got to work somewhere I can eat at. I eat Chick-fil-A, but I'd rather work at McDonald's where all the big necks at.

These days, the Lea still trying to live life as normal as possible, celebrating big milestones like her middle school graduation and her 14th birthday, surrounded by her family and friends.

Happy birthday.

To you. A day that almost did not happen. Coming up, the youngest member of Congress says enough is enough. Doing nothing.

Is not.

An option. And doctors on the front line, taking matters into their own hands. Hi, everyone. George Stephanopoulos here. Thanks for checking out the ABC News YouTube channel. If you'd like to get more videos, show highlights, and watch live event coverage, click on the right over here to subscribe to our channel. And don't forget to download the ABC News app for breaking news alerts. Thanks for watching.