Raven's Story: 13 years after surviving a gunshot wound to the head, Raven Wyatt is off to college
BALTIMORE - It's no secret, Baltimore is about strength, overcoming the odds, resiliency and love.
There's a young woman here who embodies all of that and much more.
With a bubbly personality that takes over the room and a smiles that lights it up, Raven Wyatt is a teenager loving life.
"I feel good!" shouts Raven Wyatt, speaking at her house over the summer.
But it's what you can't see that's tried to hold Raven back for years.
"The bullet went in through the front of her head, crossed one part of her brain, almost like a question mark and got stuck in her cerebellum" says Danielle Brooks, Raven's mother. "It's still in there, you can't take it out. If they took it out, if they did that, it would kill her."
On July 2, 2009, a stray bullet hit Raven Wyatt, who was just 5 years old.
"I was getting ready for the 4th of July and I sent my niece and her to store," says Brooks. "Then I just heard she got shot, I wasn't sure where, I didn't know where."
An innocent girl caught in the middle of gunfire.
"I just didn't know what to think at that time until I got to hospital, and the police told me she got shot in the head. I instantly fell out, passed out," says Brooks. "I kept asking myself, 'What did I do that was bad to deserve this to happen to my child?'"
Doctors said Raven would never make it due to the extent of her injuries at such a young age.
"Prayer is always powerful, I remember going to the chapel and praying, Please don't take my kid away from me," says Brooks. "And I waited and waited."
Those prayers were answered. Following multiple surgeries and a months-long coma, Raven started the road to recovery.
"I don't remember... I don't remember nothing," says Raven.
"She couldn't walk, she couldn't talk, she couldn't eat," says Brooks. "She would do rehab from 6 in the morning and sometimes be at the hospital until 10 at night."
It was an uphill battle for a girl who's strength is undeniable.
"She still struggles with balance. She can't run. Her mind is telling her to run, but when she actually gets up to do it, she can't" says Brooks.
But Raven learned to do all of it again, improving day by day, year by year. Not only that, she learned to thrive inside the classroom. Raven did so well, she went to her prom in May and graduated from REACH! Partnership School just days later.
What was her favorite part of prom?
"Dancing. The dancing!" says Raven.
"I mean this is a girl that, even during the pandemic, she would be the first one logged on the computer for virtual class and the last one logged off. She loves school," says Brooks. "I mean, I started crying, and I cry at everything she does, because it's like, I didn't finish school but my kids have."
Raven won best smile in the yearbook with a quote next to her photo saying: "Stay Blessed, I'll be back with the rest."
Asked why she smiles so much, Raven replies: "I don't know. Just the joy. The joy of being alive."
Bigger than all of that, perhaps: Raven is now off to the big leagues.
"I'm going to college, I'm going to Morgan. I want to major in business," says Raven.
"I just be crying every time I see how good she's doing and the impact she has on people," says Brooks.
Does Raven have good days and bad days?
"No, all good days," she says with a smile.
A young woman who is truly one of one, defying the odds.
"Her soul is just amazing" says Brooks. "She is really is that special, one of a kind person."