The Incident
December 7th 2023 Sergeant Anthony was shot in the head while on duty. That horrible night when he was shot he instantly fell to the ground and lost all feeling on his left side. If you watch the body cam footage that is out there you can see the incident. He was chasing the suspect and was pretty close to him when he got shot on the right side of his brain. When he was laying on the ground he was in between the shopping carts just outside the grocery store doors. That made it very difficult for people to get to him. His squad came to his aid and all he kept saying is "Tell my wife I love her and I'm sorry. Tell my boys I'll be ok". He says he really thought he was dying. The paramedics showed up and couldn't believe he was coherent and talking. In the ambulance they said he kept asking them to get a hold of his wife and he remembers feeling tired but being adamant to not fall asleep. My phone was on silent because of the kids and no one could get a hold of me right away. It was almost two hours later when 3 officers showed up at my door in the middle of the night, you can see that footage here. When that happens I usually would know exactly what that message is, my husband died or was shot. However, when they showed up at my house, I would not open the door because I didn't see their uniforms, just 3 big men, so I just stood there. Then I heard Anthony get on the ring camera and he started talking to them. I thought that was weird but knew it was safe so I let them in. Little did I know that at that time he was talking over the ring camera, he was actually on the trauma table literally with a bullet in his brain trying to make sure they got a hold of me. That is pretty insane to think about. He was so concerned about getting a hold of me that he was not only using his phone trying to call, but he got on the ring camera as well. The doctors all say it is a miracle that he was alive let alone so coherent with this type of injury. Maybe in a weird way it was good he didn't get a hold of me right away because it forced him to push past falling asleep and possibly dying. This was all happening around 2am or so and Anthony went in for brain surgery at 7am. Unfortunately, they could not get the full bullet out of the brain because it was too deep. They removed as many fragments as possible but the main bullet still remains in his brand and will remain in there most likely for the rest of his life. During these first few days after being shot in the head, Anthony had an extremely high mortality rate. Since Anthony's brain injury happened to the right side of his brain, he was partially paralyzed and could not move or feel the entire left side of his body.
The First Few Days
The first few days were a nightmare. I was literally on the edge of my seat wondering if he was going to die. Anthony was in immense pain and barely awake. He had constant episodes of immense pain that would make him throw up and then he would start to "seizure" because of the pain. At this point no one really knew 1) if he would make it and 2) if he did survive, if he would ever get any feeling or movement back on his left side. His vitals were not stable and even when he stopped having the nausea and immense pain, we were still very worried about his oxygen dropping and his heart rate. There were a few times his oxygen dropped and the nurse had to try to wake him up. Needless to say, I stayed up all night watching and listening to the beeping to make sure he was breathing.
Day 4 - Anthony Sat Up for the First Time
Anthony started PT and this was when they sat him up for the first time. This was almost an impossible task for him. At this point Anthony could not open his hand, could not move any fingers, he could not move his arm, he could not wiggle his toes, and he could not feel certain sensations all along the left side of his body. He could not flex or point his foot and he also had a very hard time looking to the left. When he tried to look to the left, he could not move his eyes past the center line without major effort, and it took a long time for him to be able to find me with his eyes. Just doing that was extremely exhausting for him. This was the extent of his exercise for while.
Week Two - Anthony Wiggled His Toes
This was a big day for us, Anthony ever so slightly wiggled his toes. He couldn't do it often but he did it once one day and then again the next. For us, it felt like one of the biggest pieces of hope showing us that he did have feeling down in his feet and maybe that meant he could possibly walk again. Within this week, PT was having him try standing which was another big moment for us. He continued to progress every day more and more. We could not say enough good things about the Scripps and the PT folks. They were so good. Just blown away by their care. During this week as a 3rd big moment for us, Anthony said "babe do you want to see something cool?" and I looked and he gave me a thumbs up. We were so excited and again filled with much hope. The fourth big moment for us was PT started to have him practice taking his first steps. Anthony could not voluntarily move his left foot at this time, but he was standing and supporting himself and muster every muscle in his body to just get his left foot to move forward. The big move was when he held on to a rail and with support was able to take a few steps.
Week Three - Specialized Treatment
At this point Anthony is sitting up by himself no problem, standing by himself with minimal support, and can fairly easily move from bed to wheel chair with assistance. He is also able to not only open and close his hand, but he can lift his left arm. He does have a challenge with certain arm movements. He also has more movement in his left leg/foot although he still can't lift it up. He walked for the first time with a walker essentially by himself. And then the next day walked with only holding someone's hand for support. The biggest piece that is concerning him is limited feeling in the left leg and that it still feels like cement and almost impossible to move.
And here we are, three weeks since my husband was shot in the head. I just can't believe Anthony is conquering all of these challenges. He is purely amazing to watch and I just cant get over the fact he was pretty much paralyzed two weeks ago. I am beyond proud of him. I know there are many reasons motivating him but all he keeps saying is he wants to be home laying on the floor with the kids crawling on him and he is able to wrestle with them. He is also hellbent on walking out of this rehab place.
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