On May 17th, sixteen year old Jaun Journet was shot while leaving a local fundraiser.  Although the family is happy their son survived, they now face the medical expenses of his recovery.

The injury has limited physical activity for Jaun, a Carencro football player. A bullet remains lodged in his liver, just three centimeters from his Vena Cava, one of two veins that pump de-oxygenated blood to the heart.  A simple fall could be life threatening.

Journet says, “Something told me to pick my arm up…when I got shot in my chest it went through hit me in my lung and now it’s in my liver so I had a lot of internal bleeding and it was just draining… just knowing that it’s there still keeps me on my toes.”

Shuntel Journet describes her son as her “big teddy bear.”

She never expected to receive the call about her son. “The only thing I could think about was getting to my child and making sure that he was okay.”

Shuntel and her husband put their lives on hold for their son.  Jaun faces months of rehab to regain feeling in his right arm and other medical treatment.  It’s an unexpected expense the family has to pay for out of pocket. “We’re going to take him to a liver specialist for lead poisoning…this is just the beginning of his journey.”

This is a journey that the family is taking one day at a time.

The family is hosting a benefit dinner for Jaun on Friday, June 12th, from 11-am to 2-pm at the Brass Room at 1301 Surrey Street. For more information, call 442-3984.