CHICAGO — Cooper Roberts, the 8-year-old boy paralyzed from the waist down after being wounded at the Fourth of July parade shooting in Highland Park is back to critical condition just days after the family had shared in a statement that the boy was doing better.
On Tuesday morning the Roberts family shared that the boy’s condition was downgraded as he struggles with a new infection, and one of his lungs is partially collapsed. Doctors also told the family that the last procedure revealed that the tear in Cooper’s esophagus reopened and the boy will undergo an “urgent, complex and lengthy surgery today to again attempt to repair his torn esophagus,” the family said through their spokesman Anthony Loizzi.
“This is his seventh surgery and is of particularly high risk given his age and current condition,” Loizzi said and added that the family “greatly appreciates all prayers for his recovery.”
Just Sunday evening, the family remained optimistic and thanked the emergency medics, police, fire department and medical staff that saved Cooper’s life. “It was a true miracle,” they said.
While it was initially believed that the boy had been shot in the chest, doctors at Highland Park Hospital released a statement saying that the bullet entered his abdomen and not his chest.
“The bullet entered his upper abdomen, injuring the left lobe of his liver, his esophagus near the stomach, his abdominal aorta and exited through his back injuring his spinal cord,” Highland Park doctors said in a statement Sunday evening. “At this point his critical, life-threatening injuries had been addressed and he was stable enough to be transferred to University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital for continued care.”
Cooper Roberts, one of the Roberts family’s twin boys, had remained in critical condition for nearly a week after the Fourth of July shooting with a severed spinal cord. His condition had been upgraded to serious last weekend and the family said the boy was conscious for the first time.
“Cooper is asking to see his 8-year-old twin, Luke, and his dog, George,” Loizzi said. But the boy was also “in a great deal of pain — physically and emotionally — especially as the family had to share with him the devastating news,” the family said.
Keely Roberts, who is superintendent of Zion Elementary School District 6, and her husband, Jason Roberts, attended the Fourth of July parade with their boys.
Keely Roberts was shot in the foot and leg and Luke was wounded in the leg by shrapnel. The two are recovering well, according to the family.
Even after undergoing several surgeries for injuries suffered in the mass shooting herself, Keely Roberts told doctors she needed to be discharged from the hospital she was in so she could be with Cooper, who was at a different one, Loizzi said.
“Right now their focus is Cooper,” he said. “The Roberts family is so appreciative of the prayers and support that have come in and have been shared with them,” Loizzi said.
Cooper was described as a boy who likes to play sports and is a fan of the Milwaukee Brewers.
The twins attend Braeside Elementary School in Highland Park.
The family is devastated but hopeful as Luke is being taken care of by his four older sisters while his mother and father remain by Cooper’s side at Comer.
“If you know Keely, she’s just a fighter and it sounds like Cooper got that part of her in him because he is fighting as hard as he can,” he said.
A GoFundMe page for the family is collecting donations. Loizzi said that during their difficult times the family has requested privacy and asked for financial support to ensure Cooper receives the proper treatment and therapy.
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