A Maryland teenager who had to relearn how to walk after surviving an accidental shooting when he was 11 years old will walk at his high school graduation next week.
Wise High School senior Caleb Harry, 17, suffered critical injuries when he was shot at his neighbor’s house in Suitland in 2017.
“I was shot right here near my heart,” he said. “It pierced through my lungs.”
The shooting forced Caleb to start from scratch.
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“I had to learn how to walk again. Had to learn to write, hold forks and stuff,” he said. “They had me working on my hands a lot, because I had a couple of strokes. I had tumors. So, I just basically had to learn how to, it was like being reborn.”
He received crucial support from his father.
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“It was stressful,” Mark Harry said. “I will say the biggest thing was making sure that he understood that no matter what his body was going through, mentally and physically, he could recover from it.”
Recovery was long and expensive. The emotional and physical tolls weighed heavy on Caleb.
But the father and son’s faith never wavered, and they became closer than ever.
“It has brought me closer to him,” Caleb said. “He opens up, now. We just be chillin’, now.”
“I’m always going to be proud of him,” his father said. “I mean, I brag on my son 24/7.”
Caleb graduates Tuesday, just days before turning 18.
“I fought through everything that I had going on back then, and that now that I graduated all four years of high school, I’m back and I’m better than ever,” he said.
Caleb plans to go to trade school with hopes of becoming an elevator operator and mechanic.
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