Who - 25.06.2018

INSPIRATION

Joey Slaight was just 8 years old when his

mother killed his brother and herself, and

left him with a bullet in his brain. Three

rs later, his family calls him a miracle

TIMOTHY ARCHIBALD; INSET: COURTESY SLAIGHT FAMILY

the backyard of his Owasso,

klahoma, home, 11-year-old

oey Slaight is chasing his

-year-old twin cousins around a

ini trampoline while they play

ne of their favourite games:

onster. “I’m going to get you!”

oey roars as the boys scream

mock terror. It’s a picture of

uburban weekend normalcy,

tching it all unfold, Joey’s aunt

Andra Munoz can’t quite believe her

eyes. “I sit there with my

mouth open when he’s

playing like any other

kid,” says Andra. “There

are so many times in

a day that I am amazed,

that I say, ‘I can’t believe

he’s doing that.’”

In fact, three years

ago Joey’s family wasn’t sure the

playful, happy-go-lucky boy would

ever walk or talk again. On Jan. 2,

2015, Joey was shot point-blank in the

head by his mother, Morgan Slaight,

27, a recovering methamphetamine

addict and schizophrenic, who also

shot and killed Joey’s 6-year-old

brother, Jaxon, before shooting

herself. Bleeding profusely, Joey was

helicoptered to the University of

Wisconsin Hospital in Madison,

where a CT scan showed the

.22-calibre bullet had lodged behind

his left eye after ravaging the left

frontal lobe of his brain. Doctors

cautioned the family that Joey might

not survive, much less recover any

quality of life. But after three

gruelling years in two hospitals and a

brain-rehabilitation centre, Joey

finally went home on March 31. Now

living with his father’s sister, Andra,

his legal guardian, her

husband, Jason, a

high-school football

coach, and their four

children, Joey continues

to defy the odds. “After

the shooting we didn’t

think we would have

24 more hours with

him,” says Andra. “But from day one

we saw miracles.”

On the morning of the shooting,

Joey was with his mother and brother

at Morgan’s sister’s house in

Montfort, Wisconsin. Morgan had

been released from a psychiatric

hospital the previous day—a stay

ordered by a court after she had

threatened suicide. “Her sister

told me her demeanour that

SHOT BY HIS

MOTHER

A BOY’S BRAVE FIGHT

“There are so

many times a

day that I am

amazed”

—Andra Munoz

Who l 53