EDIT SAMPLE — School shooting survivors share their stories 10 years after Sandy Hook

Photo by RDNE Stock project

Part of the Webby Award-nominated “GMA” project, Dear Future Survivor.

Edited: Melanie Schmitz

Authored: Katie Kindelan

Video: Faith Bernstein, Chris Cirillo

On Dec. 14, Jackie Hegarty of Newtown, Connecticut, knows her phone will be “flooded” with messages, as it is each year on that day, the anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting.

Hegarty, a Sandy Hook survivor, lost 20 young classmates and six educators in that shooting, which marks its somber 10th remembrance this year.

This year, Hegarty said many of the messages she receives will be from people who weren’t there that day with her, but who know exactly how it feels to survive a school shooting.

The messages of support will come from the dozens of fellow school shooting survivors across the country with whom Hegarty has connected over the past decade.

“We have that unfortunate shared experience and there’s some sort of wisdom that comes through that that you can’t get from the average person who hasn’t experienced something as traumatic,” Hegarty, now 17, told “ Good Morning America.” “We are such a connected community.”

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Read the full article at Good Morning America.