SANTA CLARITA, Calif. — It's a fairly quiet afternoon at the Egetoe household, where Patty Egetoe is busy at work on her master's degree. But amid the sounds of her typing, she picks up her phone to check a message, and is taken back to a memory she'll never forget. 

“I grabbed my phone and there was just a heart on my screen," Egetoe explained, fighting back tears. "It was from [my daughter Kiki's] friend, and so when I opened my phone it said, ‘Mom, this is Kiki, I’m okay. The police are with me.’”

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The text is from the morning of November 14, 2019, when a school shooting took place at her daughter's school, Saugus High School. 

Kiki is a senior at Saugus now. She hid alone in a closet in her school's choir room during the shooting. It was hours before Patty and her husband knew she was safe. 

“There was no better feeling than when I was able to hug her and know that she was OK," Patty said. 

It was that traumatic experience that makes small moments with her daughter so important, reminding her that every minute spent with Kiki is special. 

“I will never take my children’s safety for granted. I think about the shooting every single day," she followed. "It’s a constant.”

Understandably, it's been a slow process of recovery for the Egetoe household. Their belief is that by going through this experience, they will be able to move forward and bless the lives of other people. 

Kiki, specifically, has done that through her artwork — creating "Saugus Strong" pins, as well as portraits of each of the victims. 

Having something tangible to remember them by has given Patty and Kiki perspective on the topic of school safety, coupled with a chance to examine what it really means to feel safe in such an everyday activity.   

“We prepare for earthquakes and fires in this community," she said. "And I think every community needs to prepare for violence on a campus and specifically, gun violence.”

“None of us are immune. How can we know what is going to happen?" Patty continued. "And so we have to just live our lives to the fullest and not count on being safe.”

That's what she tries to do every single day, move forward but never forget.