The family of an 8-year-old boy who was shot and partially paralyzed in the Highland Park, Illinois, mass shooting is raising money for a new home as they spend their first holiday season together since the shooting.
Keely Roberts, the mother of 8-year-old Cooper Roberts, shared in a new statement Monday that Cooper is moving through what she described as a "slow and difficult" recovery.
"Our entire lives have been completely shattered and we are working as best we can to put the pieces back together," Roberts said. "These past weeks have been emotionally charged; they have been 'dig deep' weeks and I know that as we continue through the holiday season more of those 'it-takes-all-you-have” days are on the horizon.'"
Cooper was enjoying the 4th of July parade in his hometown of Highland Park with his parents and twin brother Luke when gunfire broke out and he was shot in the back.
The attack left seven people dead and dozens of people injured. The suspected gunman was arrested.
Roberts said Cooper, who returned to school in October, is using his love of sports to push himself "tirelessly" in rehab,
"He is truly his father’s son, and he will lean into his sports-minded, competitive nature when all else seems to fail to motivate him," she said. "He wants to put himself in a position to win, even though no one can promise him what a win actually means. He desperately wants to walk again; to run and play with his brother, sisters, and friends like he used to."
Cooper was the only member of his family seriously injured in the parade attack.
Roberts described the emotional and physical toll she and her husband have felt caring for a child with special needs, saying they are "in awe" of people who have "walked this path before or are walking it now."
"The long hours, the overnight hours, the sometimes-profound sadness, the incredible emotional strain … it is so hard to put it into words," she said.
Cooper's twin brother Luke is also struggling emotionally, according to their mom.
"Luke’s struggles may not be as physically visible but are deep and painful and real," Roberts said. "Progress and recovery physically and emotionally are slow and difficult."
Roberts credited the family's French bulldog named George, who came to the family this time last year, with providing support for both her sons.
MORE: Boy paralyzed in July 4th shooting reunites with twin brother at home"What that little pup has meant emotionally to Cooper and Luke, what he has helped them through is totally indescribable," she said. "The love and bond between this little pup and those boys is a sight to be seen."
As the family plans for a future with Cooper requiring a wheelchair, friends have started a new GoFundMe to raise money for an ADA-accessible home in which Cooper can move around comfortably and access therapies.
"Cooper needs a home that can meet his physical, and as he grows, changing needs," states the GoFundMe, which has set a $2 million goal.
Roberts said the family is also asking for continued prayers, and thanked people for the "hope and love" her family has already received.
"We really do believe in miracles -- we know that Cooper is already proof that miracles do come true," she said. "I promise you, his story is not finished – not by a long shot - and we pray the best is yet to come."
