A San Saba boy has a long road ahead of him as he slowly recovers after being shot five years ago.
Ryan Ward of San Saba was 5-years-old when he was shot twice in the stomach, once in the arm, once in the leg, and once in the groin in the Sutherland Springs church massacre in 2017. Two of his sisters and his stepmother were among the 26 killed.
Ryland's mother, Chancie McMahon, said her son was on life support for four weeks.
"He was having a surgery, an operation every other day," McMahon said. "They would take him back and clean out bullet debris and work on his arm and his leg. They would do what they called a washout, which was pretty much washing his whole body out with saline wash just to get all the nastiness out."
Ryland has had 30 surgeries. Last August he had a femur bone transplant. It did not take and caused a bone-on-bone infection. McMahon said it basically severed her son's hip joint in half. On Wednesday he will have surgery to try to correct that.
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"He doesn't want to do it," McMahon said. "What kid wants to have surgery? He is going to be down for six to 12 weeks, back in a wheelchair."
And there will be more. Ryland will have another surgery at 13 and a full hip replacement when he stops growing.
"His hip and femur are so damaged that the only thing holding it together is calcium buildup," McMahon said.
His mental health isn't great either, especially after the school massacre in Uvalde. McMahon said that tragedy has brought back memories, to a point.
"It is not the same," McMahon said. "I got to bring my child home with me. Those parents had to bury their children and it's just not fair."
She said Ryan has PTSD and night tremors and sleepwalks. He is in counseling.
"It's been an everyday struggle and for us, it's probably never going to get easier," McMahon said. "His mental capacity is horrible. His psychologist has stated the older Ryland is getting, the more he is realizing what took place and the worse his PTSD is getting.
McMahon has started a GoFundMe campaign to help with the family's expenses.
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