A young woman from Utah, now 22 years old, who survived a gunshot to her head when she was a child, is now transitioning to hospice care due to the severe injuries she sustained becoming terminal.

At the age of 14, Deserae Turner was shot in the head and abandoned in a canal bed in Smithfield in 2017. This horrifying incident occurred after she was deceived and assaulted by two of her fellow classmates, Colter Peterson and Jayzon Decker.

She survived and was able to graduate high school and get married, but the attack left her with lifelong disabilities and daily pain and challenges. 

Deserae told ABC4.com that she is preparing for the end by surrounding herself with comfort and her loved ones and is ready to say goodbye.

‘I have been in so much agony, so much pain, for eight years… it is time for me to take the steps to be in less agony and less pain,’ Deserae said.

‘The fear of death is common, and although I have some apprehension, I also desire a swift resolution… I am not anxious about the future. I genuinely believe in my destination and am prepared for the journey.’

Her family said on Tuesday that after nearly 50 surgeries, which included 16 brain surgeries, Deserae has decided to enter hospice after learning that she is dealing with a deadly infection.

Deserae Turner, 22, has entered hospice following an eight-year battle after she was shot in the head by two teenagers when she was 14 

Deserae, seen with her father in 2019, managed to graduate high school after she was shot

The 2017 shooting in Utah left her with lifelong disabilities and difficulties walking

‘Des has fought a good fight for more than 8 years now; she is tired. She doesn’t have it in her to fight another life or death battle,’ Daserae’s family wrote on a GoFundMe they created for her funeral costs and end-of-life care.

Her family added: ‘There are things worse than death. Quality of life is more important than quantity. Des made the very brave decision not to treat and to go on hospice. She has a firm belief there is life after death and we will be together again.’ 

The GoFundMe for Daserae has raised $29,000 of its $40,000 goal as of Wednesday morning EST. 

Peterson and Decker, Daserae’s attackers, were 17 at the time of the crime. They were each sentenced to at least 15 years in prison in 2018.

During their sentencing, Deserae told the court how the bullet, still lodged in her brain, left her struggling to walk, dress herself and function through debilitating headaches. 

‘You are evil. I wish this had never happened,’ she told Decker, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.

‘Good luck having a life in prison and remember that, because of you, my life is a prison too.’

Decker, left, nd Peterson, Daserae’s attackers, were 17 at the time of the crime. They were each sentenced to at least 15 years in prison in 2018.

Deserae has lived a full life since the attack and married her husband Mason in 2024

During her attackers’ sentencing, Deserae told the court how the bullet, still lodged in her brain, left her struggling to walk, dress herself and function through debilitating headaches

Prosecutors said the pair concocted the plan in February 2017 while playing video games and discussing their desire to ‘get rid’ of Dasarae, who was messaging Peterson on social media. 

They lured her to an isolated dry canal bed behind a high school in Smithfield, about 90 miles north of Salt Lake City, then shot her and left her for dead in a ditch, prosecutors said. 

Decker kept the spent shell casing ‘as a memento,’ charges said. Officers later found it displayed on his bedroom windowsill.

Decker, who was tried as an adult, pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated murder and felony obstruction of justice.

Peterson, who was also tried as an adult, previously pleaded guilty to aggravated attempted murder and robbery.