In March of this year two men were held up by armed assailants at their home at mile 9 on the Western Highway. 43-year-old Anthony Lewis was shot to the back of the head with a 9 millimeter pistol. Lewis underwent brain surgery and now a few months after that interview we caught up with Lewis and true to his spirit of recovery. He's back on his feet and living a completely normal life. Alfonso Noble found him laying bricks.
Alfonso Noble Reporting,
Today we found 43-year-old Anthony Lewis laying bricks at his sister's house. It's an ordinary job for just about any mason but not for Lewis, if you remember this man who is today very healthy and able had a near death encounter just 8 months ago. At the time he had been shot to the back of the head with a 9 millimeter gun sending him to the hospital and the operating theater.
Anthony Lewis,
"This is the bullet which was in my head, what they shot me with. I asked the doctor when the bullet came out for me to have it. When they came to me they knocked at the door and when I opened it they just bomb-brushed me with their guns; a 12 gauge shotgun and a nine. Me and my brother were at the front and they beat us up and tied us down and started to question us about a lot of stuff. They took me into the bush and shot me in my head. They put the nine into my mouth and took me into woods. When I got the shot, I was totally blank. I don't know what happened after that. I found myself in a pool of water and I hauled myself out and went into some bush and sooner or later I heard a vehicle but I was too scared to come out. I stayed there and I called someone calling my name. So I recognized the voice of my sister and told her I was here. That is that. I survived."
Lewis says that it's that mindset that took him out of the swamp where he had been left for dead, and has now brought him to an almost full recovery. These days he says he's almost back to normal save for a few problems he's having with his sight.
Anthony Lewis,
"The doctor told me the tissues from around the area was messed, going into my eyes and that is what I need to check up back and see. I can see but my eyes burn and I can only see a certain distance. Life came back normal to me, the only thing is that I am not moving around as active as I was. I feel a bit slight off-balance. Sometimes I would wake up and don't feel that good. I just relax and stay in my bed and just rest myself considering it could be much worse."
It could have been much worse because this 43 year old came very close to death or being in a vegetative state. Thinking of that has him thanking the one thing to which he could attribute the recovery.
Anthony Lewis,
"I say thanks to God I survived because if you aren't strong and your mind isn't strong, you won't survive. My brain, a little part of it was messed up. Thank the Lord again that I regained consciousness. Many are called but a few are chosen. Apparently I am a chosen one."
But while he thinks of himself as a chosen one he's not having very much luck with his case. He says the police have come back to him after a statement he gave them as well as a medical certificate were lost.
Anthony Lewis,
"They came and asked me what happened, took a statement from me, and I gave them a statement for record. They lost the paper and this that and they told me to go back to the doctor and get another doctor paper and have it signed for them. From the time they got the statement from me, they haven't come back to me so what is happening is that I want to know what is happening with this case because those guys could have taken my life and from what I hear, they are out on bail again and one of them is supposed to have gone to foreign and I don't know nothing that is happening."
Despite that however he says he wants to receive his justice.
Anthony Lewis,
"I just know that those guys did something which they are sorry they did because it is my same friends. I had those guys around me and they came and that is what they did to me. I wish them luck man. I don't have any hatred against them. They know what they did and they know they did something wrong. I just want justice come to what it is supposed to reach."
And while he looks for that he's already more than thankful that he is still around to tell his tale of how he survived a gunshot to the head.
Lewis says he's not been able to pay his medical expenses that have amounted to well over $18,000. He says he=s hoping to return to his home at mile 9 where the incident occurred whenever his vision improves.
