Tragedy is often a setback in the lives of those who experience it, but there is always hope to find the light on the other side.

That’s the message from Columbus resident Deneatrice Ledbetter, who has faced a string of life-altering trauma.

Ledbetter’s journey of finding her strength at an April 1999 baby shower for her sister, Monique Ledbetter. Deneatrice explained that at the end of the shower, neighbors began stopping by, thinking there was a party at the house.

While the sisters were attempting to clear the yard of an unwanted crowd, shots were fired following an argument between party goers.

“When all the gunfire cleared and everyone stopped. You know, the first thing that came to my mind was, where’s Monique? Because she was right beside me running,” Deneatrice said. “I looked behind me and she was on the ground.”

Deneatrice began CPR, but her sister was later pronounced dead due to a gunshot wound to her heart. She was 18-years-old.

“You know, I don’t show signs of weakness, but I’m weak in my own personal space, meaning that I don’t like to show signs of weakness to others,” Deneatrice said of her emotions at the time. “So I started writing.”

Over the years, Deneatrice accumulated 17 journals of her life, including many stories of traumatic events, which she has compiled into a book titled, “Survived.”

In 2009, Deneatrice fell victim to a physically abusive boyfriend that injured her enough to require hospitalization.

In one instance, her ex-boyfriend threatened to harm himself with a 9-millimeter gun, which had been jammed for more than two years.

However, when he fired the gun pointed at his own face, the bullet unexpectedly released. Fortunately he lived.

“He pulled the gun on himself to try and prove to me that there was no bullet, he had the gun … even though it wouldn’t shoot,” Deneatrice said, “But it did shoot, he did shoot himself in the face in front of me.”

The string of unfortunate events was not over for Ledbetter. In 2017, both of her parents, Charles and Laura Ledbetter, fell ill at the same time. On May 10, 2017, her father passed away with Deneatrice by his side.

“Me and the chaplain were in the room releasing my dad, praying over his body,” Deneatrice said. “When my phone rang, the nurse on the other line asked me if I was sitting down.”

Deneatrice was informed that her mother, whose kidneys had been failing, had passed away only three hours and one minute apart from her father.

“I froze. I don’t know how to describe it, because like, now I feel like I’m reliving it,” Deneatrice said. “I just hung up the phone.”

Deneatrice recalls breaking down when it finally set in that her parents, who she described as the glue to her family, were actually gone.

She used this breaking point to fuel more writing.

“I survived so many things that brought me down,” Deneatrice said. “I was always writing all of my traumas, and writing all of my misfortunes and, you know, things that were happening to me, that wasn’t good.”

Deneatrice now focuses on writing about her positive life experiences and how being a survivor has inspired her. She often sponsors what she calls “non-clinical therapy meetings,” in which people are invited to meet and talk out their issues or share their stories with each other to encourage others to push through their adversity.

While sharing her story, someone referred her to Liberations Publishing in West Point, which picked up her journals and helped transform them into a book.

“I want my story to inspire others, I want them to learn to live life,” Ledbetter said. “Who’s promised the next day?”

Today, Deneatrice is excited for what’s to come, and she remains in Columbus regardless of the scarring experiences that took place here.

“I just feel like I’m gonna survive, and I feel like you can accomplish anything and you can overcome anything,” Ledbetter said. “I will tell people all the time, things will get better.”

Ledbetter’s autobiography, “Survived,” will be officially released at a signing event June 25, at the Regal Inn in Columbus. The book will be available for purchase at Target, Walmart, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and university library databases.