Bristol boy shot as toddler hands over £8,000 to life-saving doctor

A boy who survived being shot in the head as a toddler has presented a check worth more than £8,000 to his ‘best friend’ – the surgeon who saved his life.

Harry Studley, aged nine, from Bristol raised the amount for the Grand Appeal and Bluebell Ward at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children by walking five kilometers (3.1 miles).

He visited the hospital with his father Edward Studley to hand over the money to pediatric neurosurgeon Michael Carter.

“It’s absolutely fantastic that our own patients are coming to support us in this way,” Mr Carter said.

Harry only got one 1% chance of survival after he was shot with an air rifle in 2016 by a neighbor who used the weapon “to scare him” without realizing it was loaded.

Mr Carter described the operation to save Harry as “one of the most traumatic any of us have ever experienced”.

“He was shot in the head at relatively close range by a high caliber weapon, which is a military type of injury to an 18-month-old child,” he added.

But despite the “huge amount of damage” caused, Harry pulled through after four months on Bluebell Ward, although he was left partially blind, with epilepsy and weakness on the left side of his body.

Despite struggling with fatigue and mobility, Harry, his older brother and his father successfully completed the challenge to raise money for the hospital’s Grand Appeal on September 15.

The money raised during the walk, which Harry did with his father and hundreds of supporters, was eight times more than the target amount of £1,000.

Before the check was presented to staff on Friday morning, Mr Studley said: “It was a very proud moment to see him run across the finish line, hug his mother and everyone cheered his name. moment today.”

He described the support the family had received in fundraising as ‘amazing’ and ‘overwhelming’, adding: ‘We are so pleased that we could spread the message of the great work they do at the hospital and the wonderful work that the Grand Appeal does. Doing.

“The hospital is not a fun place for anyone, so if we can raise money to make a child’s experience a little bit better, then I’m all for it.”

Steph Benson, community fundraising manager at the hospital, told the BBC the money would make a “big difference” and would go towards delivering ground-breaking treatments on the ward and helping fund music and play therapists who work with children.

“Neurosurgery is incredibly expensive, we use equipment that literally costs millions and things are constantly being updated,” Mr Carter explains.

“The treatments and level of care required are really at the top of the cost list, so any support we can get for these families is fantastic,” he added.