Shooting victim, Colin Lord, still in induced coma

Twenty-eight year old Colin Lord tonight remains in an induced coma at Belize Healthcare Partners Limited after undergoing an extensive overnight surgery to reduce the swelling of his brain.  He is hooked up to several medical apparatus including a life support machine and an IV to keep him alive after a near fatal shooting at his family residence last Friday.  Lord was celebrating his favourite team’s victory following the NBA Championship when two gunmen approached the house and opened fire.  A shower of bullets perforated the outer walls, door and interior of the bungalow.  Outside a badly wounded Colin Lord fell on the verandah with a nine millimeter slug lodged in his head.  He was immediately transported to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where doctors there performed emergency surgery on him.

While surgeons were able to stabilize him his family was faced with a crucial decision.  They had to act quickly in transferring him elsewhere.  He was relocated to BHPL yesterday where Dr. Joel Cervantes wasted no time in going to work to ease the cerebral inflammation.  The operation however, does not guarantee a full recovery.

Joel Cervantes, Neurosurgeon, B.H.P.L.

joel cervantes

“I can tell you that he definitely received appropriate lifesaving surgery at Karl Heusner and of course medical management in the ICU.  The family decided looking at a better option to have him transferred for further medical and surgical care and that’s the reason why he was transferred to this institution.”

Isani Cayetano

“We understand that he underwent a seven-hour surgery last night.  Can you speak to us a bit on that?”

Joel Cervantes

“Well yes, basically his condition before the surgery was that he had a lot of brain swelling that was showing up both in a controlled CT scan they had done at the government institution and also certain parameters that you see on the patient.  It was decided to take him to surgery to create more space for his brain to be able to accommodate and swell out, which basically is a lifesaving procedure.  That was done, it was a pretty difficult surgery but at the end of the seven hour period it was successful.”

On the night of the incident Lord was socializing with family and friends on the verandah of their Lavender Street home when tragedy struck.  It is believed that the shooting may have been a case of mistaken identity as the gunmen were said to have been in pursuit of one Edward Lord.  He, as you may recall, was acquitted of the murder of George ‘Junie Balls’ McKenzie in March of last year.  While both men are unrelated Colin now clings to life at the Intensive Care Unit of Healthcare Partners. While it is premature to determine whether Lord will have a full recovery, Dr. Cervantes says his chances of surviving the ordeal are fifty-fifty.

Dr. Joel Cervantes

“Basically right now what we’re hoping for is for the brain swelling to really go down much more.  He has signs of life and we’ve been able to do some preliminary tests and we noticed that he can cough and he can swallow on his own and he tries to move the right side of his body and he minimally will obey basic commands. But that was a short test we did and then we know it’s necessary to have him with medication sleeping so that the brain can rest and the swelling can go away. His chances for life, well it’s a flip of the coin.  Maybe at this point we’re talking a fifty-fifty chance of survival; quality of life I can’t tell you as yet.  You would actually know that if he survives and when you get him out of medical coma and brain swelling goes down then you can objectively evaluate what his condition will be like.”

No arrests have yet been made in this shooting.