The firing of a shotgun shell releases a number of small pellets. Two ricocheted off the pheasant gunned down by 14 year-old Kaelan Macdonald; one flew back threw his eye and into his brain, the other embedded itself in his cheek. Three weeks and a sensitive brain bypass surgery later, Kaelan is nearly fully recovered with a two-inch scar, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
"Something hit me full bore right in the face and I went down, Kaelan told USA Today.
At first, Kaelan tried to shrug it off and continue hunting with his father and two family friends, but he was soon rushed to the hospital. Symptoms resembling those of a stroke started to emerge, according to the Star Tribune.
"He wasn't making any sense and he couldn't use his right side of his body," said Kaelan's father, Russel Macdonald, of the first few hours at the hospital. "I've never felt fear like that."
Doctors, including surgeon Eric Nussbaum, concluded the pellet was stuck in Kaelan's brain -- a "once in a million type situation," according to Nussbaum.
The bypass surgery didn't actually remove the pellet -- that will remain in Kaelan's brain without harm -- but repaired the damage area. Nussbaum said he's done the procedure many times, but Kaelan's was particularly sensitive because of the position of the damaged artery, according to the Star Tribune.
"It's really quite dramatic," he said.
Kaelan still has some vision problems, and is restricted from physical activity for the time being, but doctors expect him to continue to improve. That's a life-saving fact for the active teenager.
"It was definitely the scariest moment when I couldn't move [or talk]," he told the Star Tribune. "Because if I can't move, everything I worked for is just gone, besides my thoughts."
