Last night, we told you about the latest in the recovery of 15-year-old Cassman Gill, the 3rd Form SJC student who was targeted in a broad daylight shooting last week.
At this time, he remains hospitalized in a critical condition after being the gunshots hit his spinal cord. If he survives the medical complications of the gunshot injuries, he may end up paralyzed from the neck down.
Another family who knows just how difficult that road to recovery can be is Belize City Resident Marsha Belisle and her son, Kyron Green. He is now 13-years-old, but back in May 2019, when he was 11, he too was almost fatally injured in a senseless shooting. At the time, he went to the One Plus One Supermarket on Central American Boulevard to buy groceries for his mother. It should have been a routine errand, but unfortunately, a gunman decided to target a rival who was at the supermarket at the same time. In the wild spray, one of those bullets fired in a street war between adults hit Green in the neck. He managed to survive that injury and the complications that came with it, but he ended up paralyzed.
His mother has been trying to do all in her power to help him walk again, and today, she called a press conference to ask the general public to help her get her son back to the US for follow-up medical treatment.
Our news team stopped by, and Daniel Ortiz has that story:
Who can forget the sounds of giddy joy in the voice of Marsha Belisle when she saw her son take a few unsteady steps during his physiotherapy sessions? This was only a few months after he almost died because of a stray gunshot that struck him in the neck and almost claimed his life. He miraculously survived, but the internal damage caused by the bullet left him very close to paralysis from the neck down.
But, his mom has been his main source of strength, and the biggest cheerleader in his corner ever since he was innocently shot.
For the most part, Kyron Green, the boy who survived a war between adults, still has a positive outlook on his life.
Reporter
"Tell us about the work that your mother is doing."
Kyron Green - Gunshot Victim
"It's good, [she] does everything that she can do."
Reporter
"What keeps that smile on your face? [laughs]
Kyron Green
"I don't know."
Reporter
"You just know that you have to keep going, right?"
Kyron Green
"Yes, ma'am."
But Marsha and Kyron now find themselves in a difficult situation. He needs to return to Philadelphia in order to continue on the road to recovery At Shriner's Hospital. Marsha who is a working single parent, cannot come up with the $5,000 needed to cover the costs of transportation and their hotel while they're in the USA.
Marsha Belisle - Kyron's Mother
"Kyron has been selected to go back to Shriners Hospital in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and due to COVID, it had caused a lot of strain. While our trip is with World Pediatric Project and Shriner's Hospital, some expense falls on our side, whereby we have to find the money to pay for our luggage, take out our visas. With this new COVID thing, we have to find a hotel to be quarantined for 7 days. Those expenses fall on me, and I have to find food for our time over that side."
If and when Belisle and Kyron make it back to the US for follow-up medical treatment, the doctors will be able to check on the healing process over the last 2 or so years since he was shot in the neck.
Marsha Belisle
"When he goes back to Shriner, they had said that they will check his body to see the function of his spinal cord, his kidneys, and they will tell me from there what next to do. I'm hopeful that everything is in order that it's just continuous, 6 months treatment every time he goes back for a follow-up."
But in the meantime, this mother and son try to celebrate all the small victories which reassures them that Kyron's overall health is improving.
Marsha Belisle
"I have to say Thank God for Shriners. They helped me. They had taught me a lot, how to take care of my son. Because before, we had spent a lot of money, hiring nurses. It's like over $700 a week to take care of him. I thank God that I know what to do, how to do it. But, as is, I have other children and I have to get up every day to survive in this life, to provide food mainly for them, to take care of him, and then the school has opened."
"He constantly moves his legs. He can lift them up. He can move his hands up more now. Last night, I was massaging his hands, and I felt him grip my hand more. And those are hope for me. I smile at him, I said, son, you're gripping me. First, he wasn't gripping me that tightly."
"I am so happy to see more progress with him, and those are things that make me say, I cannot give up. I continue this fight, and I will continue."
At this time, Marsha Belisle is having difficulties with her cell phone, but if you would like to help her and Kyron raise the money for the medical trip to the USA, you can contact her through her Facebook account.
