KANSAS CITY, Mo. – For the first time, a family is speaking out since their daughter, a Trenton, Missouri police officer, was shot while on duty.

Jasmine Diab  was shot while transporting an inmate on Friday, June 14.

The Diab famly has been in Kansas City since their daughter was shot. Diab has survived three surgeries so far, including an emergency surgery that happened on Thursday, her 25th birthday.

When her parents sat down with FOX4, they did not want to talk about the man who police say took her gun from her holster and shot her. Instead, they wanted to talk about everyone who helped her from that point on.

Lori Diab teared up and reached for a Kleenex. She had just thought about seeing her daughter in the hospital bed for the first time.

“I just couldn’t stand to see her like that, because she didn’t look like my daughter.”

It’s hard to talk to someone while your child is in the hospital. It’s harder when someone put her there for doing her job.

But on Sunday, that’s what Lori and Esam Diab did. They talked while their daughter was in the hospital.

“We appreciate the donations for her and her daughter. But we’re asking for is that everyone pray – and pray as hard as you can.”

“You hear about it everywhere that it happens to other people,” said Lori, “but you don’t realize how the reality sets in until it happens to your own.”

Police say she was shot near a gas station in Winston by the inmate she was transporting. Two men happened to be in a car next to her cruiser and heard the gunshot.

Esam choked up a bit when he talked about those two men, Rick Shannon and Jason Gamm. “We want to talk about the heroes,” he said.

Those heroes, he said, happened to take the wrong turn at the right time. The two men heard the gun shot and saw the cruiser take off and stop multiple times. Eventually one of the men managed to open the cruiser door and hold down the inmate until law enforcement arrived.

Esam listed some of the people who the Diab family wanted to thank. “The Chief of Police in Trenton and his wife, the Chief of Police in Kansas City and his wife. The Governor called and offered help with anything we want.”

Esam said he was overwhelmed by the generosity of the community. “I mean, we have cards from Oklahoma and Texas. I mean, amazing. Thank God. Thank God!”

That’s why the Diab family is sitting here talking while their daughter is still in a hospital bed.

Lori began to read off a list of names. It covered most of an 8″5 x 11 piece of paper.

“I want to thank the Chief of the Trenton Police Department Rex Ross and his wife Tracy. Her Sargent Matt. The Chief of Kansas City Police and his wife. All of the Kansas City police officers, the Missouri Highway Patrol Officers, the Davies County Police and Sheriff’s Department.”

She continued, “The heroes Rick Shannon and Jason Gamm who were there to hold the suspect. All the officers who have sat outside, tirelessly, outside Jasmine’s door to protect her and to check on her to see how she’s doing.”

Then she remembered the man who knocked on her door that Friday night, her son’s former classmate who delivered the news that her daughter had been shot.

“We also want to thank the Moberly Police Department and Sgt. Mark Arnsberger.”

And then she said the names of Jasmine’s friends who set up her social media updates, “Liz Lopez and Kendra Lickteig.”

Because when something bad happens, you can choose to focus on the bad. For the Diabs, it would be the event that put their daughter in the ICU.

“This is at the request of Jasmine: she’s requesting that nobody mention the suspect’s name around her because she’s having a very hard time dealing with this.”

So the Diabs’ are focusing on the good.

“I want to cry, I want to tell them thank you,” Esam said. “We really felt like the father and the mother of a hero. They made us feel like we are not alone. They made us feel like they appreciate my daughter as a police officer too.

“You know, we are Muslims,” Esam said.

He spoke about the names he’s been called and the way he’s been treated because of his religion.

“We need people to know we have Muslims who would put their life on the line.”

There is one request the Diabs’ have, and it’s on their daughter’s behalf.

“This is what we wanted to do: make sure we thanked everybody. And let them know all their prayers are working. Just keep them up. No matter what religion, no matter how you pray, it doesn’t matter. It’s working.”

Prosecutors have charged the 38-year-old man who shot Diab with first degree assault, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon. He was shot in the hand during the incident.