Boy shot inside West Pullman home celebrates Thanksgiving with family: 'I'm thankful to be alive'
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Thanksgiving is for counting our blessings, and this year, one Chicago family has a few more than most as they gather around the dinner table to celebrate each other and the precious life that was nearly snatched away after a South Side shooting last month.
ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch
While 7-year-old Zayden Garrett played with his twin brother Xavier in the living room Thursday on the West Side, in the kitchen, the magic for the big family's feast is happening. The turkey, stuffing and macaroni are all ready to go. As if by magic, Zayden was there in a flash, helping his grandmother and great-grandmother to taste test the goodies.
"I'm thankful to be alive and be with my family," Zayden said.
It was just six weeks ago Zayden walked out of Comer Children's Hospital dressed head to toe in a Spiderman costume after having undergone two life-saving surgeries which saw him have parts of both his lungs amputated. Zayden was shot in the back while sitting at his grandmother's dinner table waiting for pizza on October 7 in the West Pullman neighborhood. Police said the shots were fired from the street by an unknown person inside a white sedan.
READ MORE | Boy, 7, released from hospital after being shot during pizza party inside West Pullman home
"He's good. He's great. It's like nothing every happened to him," Zayden's grandmother Rosie Liggins said. "He's back bouncing around. He's back to school. Everything is perfectly fine. There's not pain for him. No sleepless nights."
While police have yet to find the shooter, Zayden's grandmother says investigators have remained in close contact with her, even inviting the family over for an early Thanksgiving last week. Between that, and what she says has been the invaluable support of Curtis Elementary School, where Zayden and his brother are in the second grade, the family has managed to put a positive twist on what could have been a terrible tragedy.
"I'm so thankful that he's here," Liggins said. "I am. I don't know what I would do if he weren't with us on Thanksgiving. It would not be a Thanksgiving. This is my Thanksgiving."
This year, Thanksgiving is also a time of new beginnings, with Zayden's grandmother getting ready to move the family into a new home next week.
SEE ALSO | 62-year-old man shot through window of West Side home, Chicago police say
