Lady Gaga’s dog walker Ryan Fischer (R) detailed the extent of his injuries in an Instagram video. (Getty Images/Screen capture via Instagram/@saintrocque)
Lady Gaga‘s dog walker had part of his lung removed after thugs gunned him down to grab the singer’s dogs, leaving him “bleeding on the sidewalk”.
Ryan Fischer recounted in a vivid Instagram post Monday (29 March) his rocky road to recovery since two men shot him in Los Angeles, California, and stole Gaga’s two French bulldogs.
In giving an update on his condition, Fischer said that he felt he was “recovering remarkably fast” when his lung “collapsed”.
He had to undergo surgery to remove part of it, but has since been discharged from the hospital and is resting at home, he added.
Lady Gaga dog walker: ‘The bullet wound had scarred my tissue like a burn’
“I was prepared to quietly start a path to healing from the emotional trauma and continue on my way,” Fischer wrote in the caption.
“Life would be back to normal soon enough. Unfortunately, the strange hissing and glugging coming from my chest every time I took a breath begged to differ with that assessment.
“It became quite clear that my lung was not healing, and the bullet wound had scarred my tissue like a burn.
“It could take months, if ever, for the hole to seal. Lunches of grilled cheese and tomato soup and art walks blurred into one until the day came to remove portions of my lung.”
Posted alongside a video of him taking off his hospital gown, showing his bandaged body to the tune of Carly Simon’s “Coming Around Again”, he reflected on how “recovery isn’t a straight line”.
“Now that I’m finding my way in the outside world where triggers are real and working through trauma is WAY more than dealing with one unfortunate moment in life,” Fischer added.
“I look back at my exit from the hospital and smile that I continue to approach each day the same way.”
Fischer was shot in the chest with a semiautomatic handgun after two men got out of a white car on Sierra Bonita Avenue, Hollywood, and demanded he hands over Gaga’s dogs.
He refused, and a brief scuffle broke out. The men made off with two of her French bulldogs, Koji and Gustav, and left Fischer, he recalled, “bleeding out on a sidewalk”.
It was an incident that attracted the interest of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and prompted Gaga to offer a $500,000 reward for those who give her dogs back.
While the dogs have since been returned, the case has continued to stump investigators. The perpetrators have not been caught, with police reportedly believing that the crime may have been part of a “gang initiation“.