KFOR: Pay It forward: ‘He downplays his role in it,’ Domestic violence survivor honored by her hero
By: Jolene Channey
Published: September 26, 2024
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — A snowy day in March 2022 changed the course of Tara Currin’s life forever.
She had just finished her shift at Integris Health Baptist Medical Center when she was shot eight times in the stomach and thigh. Her ex-boyfriend had been hiding in the parking garage waiting for Tara.
“I felt the heat from the first bullet and maybe a poke from the second, but nothing else after,” she said in 2022.
After seven hours of surgery and 11 units of blood, Tara survived thanks to another man who was also in the parking garage that day. John Kalhoeffer was leaving his appointment when he heard a soft cry for help and found Tara lying in the stairwell and bleeding profusely.
“I said, ‘I’m going to have to do get help for you. I promise you I will be right back. I’m going to be as fast as I can, but I will be back,’” he said.
John ran downstairs for help and, once again, the right person at the right time appeared — a nurse.
“I said, ‘Can you help?’ And she said, ‘Help with what.’ I just kind of nodded with my head follow me. She followed me upstairs,” John said.
“When she saw the situation with so much blood and everything. She said, ‘I’m going to have to get a doctor.’”
It happened a third.
“She went downstairs. The door opened. There was a doctor standing on the other side of the door,” John said.
And a fourth.
“He was accessing her, and the nurse said, ‘I think we should get security involved here,” John said. “She walked downstairs. The door opened. A uniformed security guard was standing there.”
It has been two years since Tara was ambushed in the parking garage. She is now retired and speaks full time about domestic violence, encouraging and educating others. That is why John nominated her for Pay It 4Ward.
“I’m just amazed at the way she has taken such a bad situation and turned it into something so positive,” he said.
With $400 from First Fidelity Bank, John and KFOR surprise Tara in the middle of one of her presentations.
“Thank you so much,” Tara said. “I worry about you more than you worry about me. This is the gentleman who found me first in the stairwell. He downplays his role in it, but had it not been for him stepping in and being there, I wouldn’t have made it. That day created such a friendship with us, and I just love him to death.”
“Same with me,” John said.