The father of Harry Studley has described his progress as ‘still a miracle’, on the fifth anniversary of the day he was shot in the head as a baby.
Harry was given a one per cent chance of survival by doctors at Bristol’s Children’s hospital in the hours, days and weeks they battled to save him following the shocking incident in 2016.
His family were inundated with support from all over the world, spent four months in hospital and now, as a lively six-year-old, Harry is doing well, but still dealing with the life-changing effects of that day.
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On the fifth anniversary of the day their lives changed forever, Harry’s father Ed has described how his son is doing well at school, and how the family is looking forward, rather than back to that fateful day.
“There’s still lots of people who ask how Harry is doing, especially when I’m out and about, and doing work through Bristol City, so I just thought it would be good to update everyone, because Harry is doing really well,” he said.
“He’s a bright and bubbly six year old now.”
“He’s at mainstream school, and the school are amazing. He has a one-to-one support, and he’s learned how to read and write, so even just that has surpassed a lot of our expectations and what we were told by the doctors he would be able to do.
“We have an option for him to go to a specialist school, but we wanted him to be with his brother, Riley, who is seven,” he added.
“The school has been fantastic - everyone at the school has worked very hard to make sure everything is ok for Harry to go there,” he added.
The news of what happened to Harry, an 18-month old baby who was shot in the head while sitting with his mother on July 1, 2016, shocked the world.
Miraculously, through the skill and determination of first the paramedics and then the doctors and surgeons at Bristol Children’s Hospital, his life was saved.
But for Harry’s family, that was just the start of a journey that has them dealing every moment of every day with the life-changing injuries he suffered in that moment.
“From being given a one per cent chance of survival to how he is now is nothing short of a miracle,” said his dad Ed.
“The doctor was so certain they wouldn’t be able to save him but they did.
“It’s been a very tough five years, but my and my partner have come together stronger and we have all got through it.
“He was in the hospital for just over four months, and we are going back there every few weeks even now. Even though he’s spent so much time there, Harry still gets excited to go to the hospital and see the ambulances and meet everyone. He’s like a little celebrity at the children’s hospital, everyone knows him,” he said.
Harry is continually being assessed, his progress, what he is capable of, what he struggles with, regularly re-examined. With one of the pellets from the high-powered air gun still lodged in his brain, his epilepsy is the biggest worry. It’s something that doctors and his family have struggled to keep control of, continually trying new or different drugs and combinations of medication.
He also has half a prosthetic skull after the pellets shattered his own.
When he got to the age of four, Harry started school.
Even that, and how that was done, was a challenge.
“It was a huge worry that first day he went, and you wouldn’t believe the amount of risk assessments - If he falls over or has a seizure, it’s a trip to A&E. If he bumps his head, it’s a trip to A&E,” explained Ed.
“He’s got a little room at the school where he can go and have a nap, because he still gets very tired. He wears a helmet at school for protection, and they accommodate him and his needs so so well. I can’t begin to describe how brilliant the school have been with him,” he said.
“He is a bright and bubbly six year old now, who will eat you out of house and home,” he joked. “He does like his food!. Looking at him you can see he may have some disabilities, but he’s like a normal six year old, really.
“He does get tired with his medical issues. He has epilepsy, which unfortunately we have not managed to get under control, and that’s something that is a huge challenge.
“He’s partially blind in one eye and he has a weakness on the left hand side of his body. He’s pretty clumsy - if there’s a plant pot or something for him to trip over, he’ll manage it, but for him, he’s learned to adapt - this is all he knows and he’s grown up like this.
“We know that as things go forward, there may be other things he has challenges with, and he is going to find it difficult, but he’s meeting his milestones and exceeding everyone’s expectations so, we don’t know what the future will hold for him and how he will be going forward,” he added.
Harry was 18 months old when the incident happened that changed everyone’s lives.
He and Riley, his mum Amy and dad Ed lived on the top floor of one of the blocks of flats on Bishport Avenue in Hartcliffe. Amy’s now ex-friend Emma Horseman lived on the second floor with her partner Jordan Walters, a security guard, and their children.
Amy and the children were visiting her friends’ flat when Jordan Walters fired the high-powered air gun. Although a court accepted that he shot Harry by accident, his actions were described as "grossly irresponsible" by a judge and branded "reckless in the extreme" by the detective investigating the shooting. He was jailed for two years for grievous bodily harm.
The pellets hit Harry in the head, effectively destroying much of his brain on one side, and causing life-changing injuries.
He wasn’t expected to survive the shooting. Ambulances and police rushed to the scene, and dad Ed was called at work on his shift at Sainsbury’s.
It is not a day Ed likes to look back on, and rarely does.
“I’m more a positive kind of person - I don’t try to dwell on the past,” he said.
“We can’t change what’s happened, we can only change the present and the future, so that’s all I really focus on.
“I was at work at Sainsbury’s, and had a phone call from my partner, and then a phone call from the air ambulance paramedic explaining what they were doing. So I just remember rushing back to the flats and there were lots of police and ambulances and people who had gathered there.
It was very tough. There were three doctors working on Harry in the back of the ambulance, and Amy was sat in the front in floods of tears.
“I had to go and pick up Riley, who was still in the flat with the police and go and take him to his gran’s. They took Harry to hospital, and I followed in the car.
“In the hospital, the doctors gave us the news of what his chances were. They said they would do everything they could, but there was a one per cent chance he would survive.
“I remember going down to see him in the operating theatre and giving him a kiss before the operation, and that is something no parent should ever have to go through.
“All the family were in this waiting room and we were waiting there for a long time. The most vivid memory I have of that time was there was this clock in the waiting room and everyone was so quiet and all you could hear was the clock ticking, and it was loud and so annoying, that I actually got up and took the batteries out of the clock so it stopped ticking,” he added.
If Ed and the family prefer not to look back at what happened five years ago today, they don’t ever spare a thought for Jordan Walters.
“I try not to dwell on that now. Harry is with us and we’ve got to be positive,” he said.
“All we can do is change the future, and that’s why I do voluntary work in the community, to try to make things more positive for others too,” he added.
“We are in the hospital now every three or four weeks. Harry has issues with epilepsy, his mobility and his vision. Without all the staff at the children’s hospital, there’s no doubt in our minds, Harry wouldn’t be with us now,” he said.
The family had a huge amount of support from across the world, when news of what happened grabbed headlines globally.
“We had support from all over the world, it was incredible,” said Ed. “For instance, we made a new friend, a man in Colorado who, from the start, sent us weekly donations to a fundraising page one of Harry’s aunties set up. He’d send us packages too, so the boys have Colorado Rockies baseball jerseys even now, it’s amazing.
“We had a letter from a priest in Ireland who read about what had happened, which was really nice. All sorts of messages of support, which was great,” he added.
Since their family was turned upside down that day, their lives continue to change. They moved out of the flat in Hartcliffe, to another in South Bristol, but are still on the council waiting list for a new home that will better meet Harry’s needs. And Ed’s life has changed too - he now volunteers a lot in the community, working with the Robins Foundation at Bristol City. Turning things into positives is their aim - and one of the key things was making sure big brother Riley didn’t suffer as the focus was on Harry.
“With his older brother Riley, they fight like any brothers their age, but they get on well,” said Ed. “For Riley, the whole thing was very difficult. He was obviously there when it happened, and it couldn’t be helped, but he got pushed out a bit because from then we were in the hospital so much with Harry.
“That’s why it’s been great that he’s fallen in love with football - it’s been something he and I have been able to do together, going to Bristol City and he plays now in his age group,” he added.
And in the years since, there has been another focus to try to find positives from what happened - Ed and Amy have been working closely with South Bristol MP Karin Smyth on tightening up the laws around air guns.
“We’re very much involved in the campaign to have greater restrictions on air weapons,” he said.
“Karin keeps pushing for an answer and a response from the Government. I’ve had the opportunity to put my opinion to MPs, and she’s still in there trying to change things - she’s like a dog with a bone on this, she’s been really supportive,” he added.
