This story was originally reported by Brooke Migdon of The 19th, and republished through Rewire News Group‘s partnership with the 19th News Network.

Ten years ago July 12, a man armed with a semi-automatic rifle and semi-automatic pistol opened fire at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. He killed 49 people and wounded dozens more in what was at the time the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11.

The shooting at Pulse, an LGBTQ bar and dance club that had for years been a pillar of gay nightlife in Central Florida, reverberated throughout the state and country and altered the course of countless lives. Ten years on, survivors and those close to the tragedy are still finding ways to heal. For some, it has meant new paths—in work for LGBTQ equality, in helping victims of mass shootings, in politics.

Brandon Wolf had moved to Florida in 2008. At the time of the shooting, he was 27 and working as a store manager at a local Starbucks, with aspirations to someday get to the company’s corporate offices in Seattle. He felt he had achieved a sense of normalcy that he thought wasn’t available to queer people.

“I think I was content to just ride that ‘normal’ off into retirement,” he said. “And then Pulse happened, and my perspective on what matters changed. The urgency with which I want to share love and gratitude to the people around me changed, and, ultimately, my sense of purpose in the world changed too.”

Wolf managed to escape the building unscathed. But he lost two friends in the early hours of June 12, 2016: Christopher “Drew” Leinonen and Juan Ramon Guerrero, who had been in a relationship and living together for nearly two years.

In the days and weeks that followed, Wolf watched the city rally around its own. Thousands lined up to donate blood to survivors fighting to stay alive, and Equality Florida, a state LGBTQ rights group, raised more than $7 million for victims and their families.

Wolf became an active volunteer with the organization, spending so much of his free time there that its executive director eventually offered him a........

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