BONITA, Calif. (KGTV) - A local rapper shot in April while trying to stop a robbery in Los Angeles continues to make a ‘miracle’ recovery, according to loved ones.
A photo taken July 4 shows something doctors had thought impossible: Christopher Martin, alive and healing.
“I’m beyond words. I’m really grateful,” said a tearful Donna Martin, Martin’s mother.
In mid-April, Martin, 27, a local rapper and entrepreneur, was in Los Angeles for a birthday party. After leaving a nightclub, he was outside a restaurant on the Sunset Strip when police say his friend was held up at gunpoint. Martin was heard yelling, ‘No, stop!’ and moments later, he was shot in the head.
Donna says her son coded once in the ambulance and again at the hospital. The bullet traveled through the left and right sides of his brain, before exiting, leaving fragments inside.
From a team of doctors: one conclusion.
“‘This is a not a survivable injury.’ Those are their exact words,” said Donna.
Several weeks passed, and Martin remained in a coma, but alive.
“I went to prayer. I went to my faith,” said Donna.
Three weeks in, he began breathing on his own. In late May, he woke up, as one of his eyes opened.
“I cried like crazy, of joy,” said Donna.
Martin started communicating, blinking once for ‘yes’ and twice for ‘no.’
On June 9, he was transferred to a facility in San Diego. Days later, he whispered his first word: ’Hi.’ On June 18, a nurse asked Donna a question.
“‘You're Christopher's mom?’ And then Christopher said ‘mama’ super loud. It was amazing. I teared up,” said Donna.
Martin is now able to move all his limbs. Based on brain scans, doctors remain encouraged.
“They don't see anything that would prevent him from a full recovery,” said Donna.
Donna knows the recovery will be a long one, but she has faith.
“Christopher's will to survive and fight is whatever it will take to come back to who he was and even better. He will not let the robbers win,” said Donna. “He's a miracle, living miracle.”
A GoFundMe campaign has been started to help the Martin family with medical expenses.
The shooter remains at large. It's believed Martin's case is one in a string of so-called 'Follow Home robberies' plaguing Los Angeles, in which gangs send spotters to follow people outside posh restaurants and clubs, before robbing them.
