Shooting Victim Battles Serious Illness

Tuesday, June 12th 2007, 5:00 pm

By: News On 6

A young man is fighting to survive. Jeremy Lin has struggled since he was shot in the head inside a downtown Tulsa nightclub in February. Jeremy Lin has had three surgeries and is back in the hospital Tuesday with more complications. He is blind in one eye, can't smell and can barely use the left side of his body because of being shot in the cheek under his eye. News On 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright report now, he's in the hospital again, this time for 10 days, battling meningitis.

Jeremy Lin is more familiar with hospitals than he ever dreamed he would be. He's had surgery after surgery plus physical, speech and occupational therapies. He used to be a kid who played sports, and now he struggles to lift his left hand. He's frustrated, but determined.

"I just gotta deal with it,â€ Jeremy Lin said. â€œMy life isn't over yet."

He has come a long way, but has a long road of recovery still ahead of him. Most people have no idea what a struggle it is to recover from a gunshot wound, just the day-to-day trauma. He's not the only one suffering, his single mom and siblings are all in this together.

"It kills a mother inside, giving your kid enough space, just takes one shot,â€ said Jeremy Linâ€™s mother Kelly Lin. â€œOne night the kids wanted to go out and have fun, and out of 1,600 kids, it ended up being mine that was shot."

Jeremy Lin and his brother had gone to the Ministry Club, now called UV, in downtown Tulsa, on February 11th. A man who says he'd been beaten up previously at another club was there that night and had his cousin bring him a gun for protection. At some point, he shot the gun and two boys were hit, Jeremy Lin was the most seriously injured. He has testified once and hopes the shooter goes to jail.

"He needs some time,â€ Jeremy Lin said. â€œHe almost killed two kids. We didn't do anything to deserve this."

Kelly Lin wants all kids to know that guns aren't cool, they are dangerous. She believes the shooter was being selfish the night he pulled the trigger.

"He didn't have no heart, no sympathy for anybody, was just thinking about himself, wanted to be big and bad to protect himself,â€ she said. "The only person he was thinking of was himself."

Jeremy Linâ€™s hospital bills are more than $150,000 dollars so far and that doesn't include the last 10 days.

The man charged with shooting Jeremy Lin, Rakeem Smith, is supposed to be in court Thursday morning.

Donations can be made to the Jeremy Lin Recovery Fund at any Bank of Oklahoma branch.

Watch the video: Shooting Victim Contracts Meningitis

Related Stories:

2/11/2007 Downtown Nightclub Shooting Suspect Sought

2/13/2007 Nightclub Shooting Leads To Change

2/16/2007 Parents Protest Downtown Nightclub

3/27/2007 Police Questioning Suspect In Tulsa Nightclub Shooting

5/11/2007 Shooting Suspect Heads To Court