Largely overlooked are the several thousand others who have been shot and survived. They and their loved ones now live with the consequences — often without seeing the shooter brought to justice.
One of them is Precious Land. She’s the mother of four small children. Someone shot her randomly in May, leaving her paralyzed. Doctors said she will likely never recover.
Now, she’s back home. She is no longer in a coma, but she eats through a feeding tube and has a breathing tube in her throat. She’s in the care of her mother, Stacey Turner, who spoke with As It Happens host Carol Off. This is an edited version of their conversation.
Carol Off: How is your daughter, Precious, doing since she came home?
Stacey Turner: Well, she’s still critical, but stable. She’s doing good.
CO: When she was in the hospital she was on life support and the doctors told her she has a lot of brain damage.
ST: Yes, they wanted me to pull the plug and I told them, no, I couldn’t do that … They was like, “Ain’t no hope. That she wasn’t going to live for about another week.” And here it is October and my baby is still here.
