The eight-year-old boy, whose spine was severed by a shooting at the Independence Day parade, was conscious for the first time since the attack and asked to meet his twin brothers, his family said Friday.
Doctors don’t think Cooper Roberts had suffered a brain injury from a bullet hitting his chest, the family said in a Friday statement confirming that he was paralyzed from the waist down.
The boy was removed from the ventilator. He is in a serious condition and he is in great pain but is improving.
He and his twin brother, Luke, loved the Independence Day parade on the outskirts of Chicago.
However, family spokesman Tony Loitzi was injured in a shootout in a zoom call with reporters on Thursday, injuring dozens of people in Highland Park and killing seven in Cooper’s “New.” He said he was assuming “normal”.
Luke and Keely Roberts, the mother of a boy who oversees Zion Elementary School District with 2,300 students, were also injured, but not so seriously. Only the boy’s father, Jason Roberts, was unharmed.
Luke, who was hit by a shrapnel, is at home. However, some of the debris remains on his body. Because removing them causes too much damage, Royge said. The twins are the youngest of six, and four older sisters (ages 18-26) are fond of Luke while Cooper is in the hospital.
Meanwhile, the boy’s mother, who was shot twice in the foot and leg areas, has had two surgeries and may need a third surgery, Royge said.
“Frankly, she probably shouldn’t have been discharged,” Royge said. But when she learned that Cooper was using a ventilator, she said, “I told my doctor and nurse that I had to leave the hospital or stay with her son, so I should go out myself. I said, “Royge said.
He said the school district in which she works has received offers of assistance from supervisors throughout the state, some of whom have retired. He said they wanted to help her so that she could heal and focus on her family.
“They are devastated,” he said of his family. “But they are now concentrating all their energy on Cooper. It was a very moving time for everyone in the circle. And if you know Keeley, she’s just a fighter, and Cooper is fighting as hard as he can, so it seems that Cooper put that part of her inside him. “
Loizzi knew very little about the shoot itself. He said he didn’t know where the family was standing on the parade route when the shot rang and who helped them.
“Honestly, I’ve never had such a conversation with Keeley,” he said. “I tried not to focus exactly what happened and kept really focusing on what we were doing to help her and her son.”
Loizzi described the boy as having a “passion” for sports and Milwaukee Brewers.
“Every time I talk to his mom about him, he’s always very active,” he added.
GoFundMe has raised more than $ 800,000 to help the family with what Loizzi described as “the obvious ongoing treatment and treatment that Cooper needs.” Keeley Roberts is an avid school leader, working hard for his students and often sending emails early in the morning, he said.
“Now she and her family need our support, so keep the Roberts family and all those affected by this tragedy in your thoughts and prayers.”
This article was originally HuffPost It has been updated.