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Pulse Nightclub survivor dedicated to remembering victims of hate crimes through Reflections of Resilience Day

Sandusky local Christopher Hansen was celebrating at Pulse Nightclub on June 12, 2016 when a gunman killed 49 people. Now, he's dedicated to remembering lives lost.

SANDUSKY, Ohio — It was June 12, 2016.

Just after 2 a.m. 

49 people were killed by a shooter at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando... it is the deadliest incident of violence against the LGBTQ community in the United States.

Luminaries are lit and placed in a circle around a fountain, each one a color of the rainbow. Each one symbolizes a victim of hate crime or suicide. June 11 is Reflections of Resilience Day, a day designed to let people heal. It grew from one Sandusky man’s tragic experience.

“I was in the war zone. The bullets were still blazing, people were screaming, bodies were bloody, people were falling and I did go back," Christopher Hansen recalled.

Tonight, Hansen is appreciating a life he almost lost. Four years ago, he had just moved to Orlando and was celebrating at Pulse Nightclub’s Latin Night. 

Before sunrise on June 12, he was helping pull people out of the bar and triage them with first responders.

“I remember carrying the bodies to the parking lot of Einstein Bagel, and that’s where they were putting everybody. They were tagging everybody red, yellow, black. Black was dead," Hansen said.

He was inundated with phone calls, texts and messages from concerned family and friends, but as the months and years of healing went on, people dropped off. So Reflections of Resilience Day is to support that long term healing.

“It’s important for us to reflect on what we’ve been through, on what we plan to go through, and what we’re in the middle of because what we’re doing now is going to lead us where we’re going, but it’s all about those baby steps."

Hansen has 35 proclamations from around the country signifying June 11 as Reflections of Resilience Day, including proclamations from Sandusky and Toledo. He hopes to travel to all cities to inspire other people to work through their personal traumas.

"It’s important to know there are people out there that are active, that have been through situations, that say 'what can we do to change the world?' It’s by being active,” Hansen explained.

Hansen wants to lead by example, his message signified by a rainbow ribbon on his chest with a diamond, the strongest gemstone, shining in front.

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