Wounded three times in the Orlando massacre, Tampa native Amanda Grau was unable to meet Thursday with President Barack Obama. Instead, he recorded a special video message for her.
Amanda's family shared the video exclusively with ABC Action News.
In the 15 second cellphone video, President Obama says, "Hey Amanda. We are over here. I am with your dad, your brother and we are all thinking of you. So you make sure to do what the doctors tell you to do. Stay strong. Know that everyone is thinking of you, and you are in our thoughts and prayers."
During the video, the president placed his hand on Grau's brother's shoulder as a sign of support.
Grau, 33, had dinner with her family in Tampa before heading to Pulse nightclub, her brother said.
According to Phillip Grau, his sister was shot twice while on the dance floor. She then took cover in the bathroom when she was shot again by the gunman. He says his sister tried saving others.
"She ran in there [the bathroom], made a phone call to mom," explained Paul Walker, a close family friend of more than two decades. "Can you imagine the phone call you get, 'Mom, I've been shot, come get me."
She was wounded at least three times, her brother said.
"He was shooting people, the dead people just to make sure they were dead and she got shot in the leg and she couldn't say anything because she knew if she said anything he would make sure she was dead," Walker explained.
Grau decided to make a daring move, texting her brother.
"Phillip is on the phone with dispatch, gets to the head negotiator, is texting with Amanda, it is mind blowing," Walker said.
Grau, who is a nurse, applied pressure to her own wounds while checking on others. While doing this, she was also relaying critical information to the law enforcement about the whereabouts of the gunman and how the injured could be rescued.
ABC Action News learned Grau went to the nightclub to meet up with her friend and Tampa native, Christopher SanFeliz, SanFeliz, 24, was fatally wounded in the massacre.
Grau has undergone one surgery and successfully underwent a second surgery Friday.
Grau has her family by her side, including her partner, Elizabeth Campos.
