A family spokeswoman claimed on Thursday that an 8-year-old boy may never walk again after suffering a severed spinal chord from a gunshot wound to the chest during the July 4th Highland Park parade incident in Chicago.
Cooper Roberts was one of the most seriously injured of the dozens of people who survived the horrific shooting that killed seven people. Both his twin brother and mother were injured.
According to family spokesperson Anthony Loizzi, he was classified in critical but stable condition on Thursday, paralysed from the waist down and breathing on a ventilator.
‘It’s going to be a new normal for him moving forward,’ Loizzi said. ‘It sounds (like) he’ll have significant issues moving forward, especially with walking.’
Cooper’s twin brother, Luke, was hospitalised with shrapnel wounds in his lower body but was released after surgeons removed part of the debris, but not all.
Keely Roberts, the boys’ mother and the head of a neighbouring school district, was wounded in the legs and feet, Loizzi said over Zoom.
Jason Roberts, who was also present during the procession, was unharmed.
According to Loizzi, Cooper’s mother’s colleague, doctors are unclear if Cooper will ever walk again due to the severity of his spinal cord damage.
Cooper, who was described as a “very active” boy who loved baseball and other sports, has been unconscious and sedated since being transported to the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital, according to Loizzi.
The mother, who had at least two operations herself, was so distressed by Cooper’s situation that she insisted on being released on Wednesday – earlier than doctors thought was appropriate until her bleeding was under control – so she could be with her son in the children’s hospital, according to Loizzi.
The child has had multiple surgery, including one on Wednesday night in which surgeons ‘finally closed his belly,’ according to the statement.
Despite not knowing the specifics of Cooper’s prognosis, Loizzi told reporters that the boy’s mother and an older sibling discussed how “it will be a new normal for him going forward.”
‘He’s fighting as hard as he can,’ Loizzi said of the boy’s recovery. The family as a whole, including four adult sisters, were ‘devastated but focusing their energy on Cooper,’ he said.
‘It’s been a very emotional time for everyone in their circle,’ he said, adding he did not know whether Luke had yet been apprised of the severity of his twin’s condition.
Loizzi said both Cooper and twin brother Luke ‘loved the parade’ and had attended the event in the past, but he did not know where along the parade route they were when the gunshots were fired.
They are ‘best friends, partners in crime,’ Cooper’s oldest sister said in a statement.
‘There’s nothing this kid can’t do and no words for the amount of goodness within him,’ she added.
Friends of the family established a GoFundMe page seeking to help address their medical bills.