KPTV - FOX 12Recovery continues for child shot in head by friend

Recovery continues for child shot in head by friend

In a few weeks, Austin Stokes will turn 14. But in many ways, he's like a 5-year-old child.

Austin was shot in the head on Jan. 30, 2011, leaving him with a traumatic brain injury that  forced him to relearn everything.

His parents, Shelly and Adam Stokes, say the last year has been a nightmare.

"It's really hard," Shelly Stokes says. "I look at him sometimes and that's not the son I remember."

"It's just like a 3-year-old," Adam Stokes says. "I mean, when they learn how to walk or talk, you're just like, 'Oh, that's exciting!' But you think back and it shouldn't have happened in the first place."

Austin was at a friend's house when the boy tried to scare Austin with his father's duck hunting rifle, police say.

The boy thought it was unloaded, but it wasn't.

Police say the gun was left out, unsecured in the living room.

For that, Austin's parents say there is no excuse.

"In this case, the people that had the guns laying around were not responsible at all," Shelly Stokes says. "I just don't understand how you can leave a loaded shotgun laying around when you have a neighbor kid coming over."

Initially, Austin had a prosthetic plate put in his head to help rebuild his skull. But it caused a severe infection, and doctors had to remove it last month.

Until they can try the surgery again, using ribs taken from Austin's own body, every day and every move is risky.

"He has no skull, so you have to walk him everywhere. And you're just petrified. If he falls and hits that spot, he's done," Adam Stokes says.

Austin continues to improve every day, but his family is physically, emotionally and financially drained.

If anything positive can come from Austin's injury, his parents say they want people to know it was 100 percent preventable.

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