welcome back, everyone. today was the funeral for the six members of the stay family in texas, shot to death in a brutal attack. only 15-year-old cassidy stay survived. her bravery touched the hearts of people all across america. cnn s ted rowlands has more. reporter: 15-year-old cassidy stay, the lone survivor of last week s shooting in houston, is getting words of comfort and words of advice from madonna badger who like cassidy lost her entire family. badger s three daughters and parents all died in a 2011 christmas morning house fire in stamford, connecticut. while she survived the fire, for years she says she wished she died along with her family. i prayed for that. and i screamed at god, you know, forever. why didn t i die too?
a 20-year-old, a 25-year-old, throughout these different places in life. reporter: badger s letter to cassidy, itself part of her own healing process makes it clear that the pain will never completely go away. my sadness is still so deep, but it has changed. i accept it more now. stay strong. reporter: ted rowlands, cnn. an incredible young lady. joining me now is missy jenkins smith. she was only 15 when a school shooting killed three of her classmates and left her paralyzed from the face down. she has a message of hope. she wrote about it in a message of book, i choose to be happy. you were the victim of gun violence at high school. it s been 16 years. do you think back to that day often? yes, yes. and i would like to apologize, first. i m sick. i m starting to get hoarse voice.
so hopefully you can understand me. definitely this is something that affected me when i was 15 years old. and she has a lot of recovery and a long road to go. but she sounds like she s got a positive attitude. you mentioned that you were 15. she is 16, around the same age you were shot. what does cassidy need most now, do you think? she definitely needs a lot of support. that is exactly what helped me get through this whole thing is the support of my friends, of everyone around the world. i really received 600 letters and 45 packages a day from people all over the world just supporting me. in any way possible. so she needs that support. so anybody from anywhere, i had people all over the world supporting me. madonna badger faced an awful tragedy as well. you ve seen the letter from madonna badger to cassidy stay. it s a message of love and strength. does that resonate with you?
she s only 15. so she s going to process this experience right now as a 15-year-old. she ll process it as her brain continues to develop and she continues to experience life as a 20-year-old, a 25-year-old, throughout these different places in life. reporter: badger s letter to cassidy, itself part of her own healing process, makes it clear that the pain will never completely go away. my sadness is still so deep, but it has changed. i accept it more now. stay strong. reporter: ted rowlands, cnn. thank you, ted. an incredible young lady. joining me now is missy jenkins smith. she was only 15 when a school shooting killed three of her classmates and left her paralyzed from the chest down. but she has a message of hope. and she wrote about it in a book. it s called i choose to be happy. missy, i m so glad you re joining us this evening. you were the victim of gun violence at high school. it s been 16 years. do you think back to that day often? yes, yes. and i would like to
you know, yeah, that was i really wanted to die too. reporter: in an open letter to cassidy, badger writes that love is what saved her, the love of my children and my parents that is still in my heart, and the love of friends and doctors and perfect strangers. accepting the love all around me has helped my forever broken heart. try to let the love all around you in, and little by little you will feel a tiny bit better. i know that my mom, dad, brian, emily, becca, and zack are in a much better place and that i ll be able to see them again one day. cassidy stay. [ cheers and applause ] cassidy made an unexpected appearance at a memorial for her family, and seemed to be incredibly strong. i really like harry potter. in the prisoner of azkaban, dumbledore says, happiness can be found even in the darkest of times if only one if one only remembers to turn on the light.