In February, Ryan Fischer was shot while walking the pop star's dogs.
Lady Gaga's dog walker, Ryan Fischer, is opening up about the February dognapping incident that took place in Los Angeles, which left him hospitalized to undergo surgery after being shot. Fischer walked the 35-year-old singer's three French bulldogs -- Gustav, Koji and Asia -- for six years before the terrifying night that almost took his life. Asia managed to escape and was later recovered by police, while Gustav and Koji were dognapped at the scene.
While speaking with Gayle King on Friday's CBS Mornings, Fischer went into detail about the near-fatal shooting.
"I was shot once. But because I was reaching forward, it went through right here next to my neck above my clavicle and went out below my shoulder blade," he explains, pointing to where the bullet hit him. "It went through and pierced my lung. I remember being on the operating table, it was a team of eight people all around the table working on me trying to get the chest tube in. Once they got the chest tube in, blood just spurted out on the doctor next to me and everyone’s faces just dropped, and when I heard my blood pressure drop, I looked at the machine. The people in the ER who I saw that night told me they didn’t think I would survive that night."
Fischer says that during his surgery, the doctors "removed the top third of my lung and then a portion of the bottom of it."
Fischer went on to explain that he's "in a good space mentally" now, but is still working through some of the trauma.
"I am going on a retreat," he shares. "I like to go through all different methods to see the best one for me. The one I am going to for a few days is a trauma retreat for first responders and people from the army and police. I feel like a bit of an outsider because I am a civilian, but I also welcome hearing their stories and me sharing my own and feeling what that feels like to share in stories of trauma and grief to then go forward."
Fischer says Gaga has also been "very supportive" of Fischer's post-attack healing. "She has helped me so much, she has been a friend for me and after I was attacked, my family was flown out and I had trauma therapists flown to me and I stayed at her house for months while friends comforted me and security was around me," he shared.
In April, five people were arrested on charges that include attempted murder and robbery in connection with the crime.
Following the interview, King spoke to ET's Rachel Smith about her sit-down with Fischer, saying "he had canceled the interview" a few times "because he just wasn't ready to talk about it."
"I walked away thinking he's kind, he's gentle, he's strong," King said of meeting Fischer. "He's a different kind of guy ... It was very traumatic. He's still struggling, Rachel. Listen, he lost a chunk of his lung, he's gonna have lifelong injuries, and now he wants to go on a healing and spiritual journey to recover from the trauma. And it still is a very traumatic experience for him."
King went on to talk about how Fischer debunked speculation that Gaga did not help him following the incident -- something that was questioned after he started a GoFundMe campaign to help him pay for his current spiritual cross-country road trip.
"He believes that she has done right by him," she said. "He said, you know, there's no doubt in his mind that if he needed her to give him more that she would do so. But he said, 'You know what? I don't really want that.'"
King added, "To my understanding, she has paid for all of his medical expenses."
When discussing Fischer's dedication to Gaga's three dogs, and the musician herself, King tells ET, "That's why I say he's a different kind of guy. He cares deeply. He really loves and still really cares for Lady Gaga. He says their relationship is very much intact. They have no issue according to him."
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