WASHINGTON — For the past three months, 9-year-old Jaydan Stancil has called hospital rooms home, passing from the hands of doctors and nurses to surgeons and physical therapists. His mother, Monique Nichols, has become his roommate, spending every night with him except for the one week when she was hospitalized herself with a tear in her stomach lining.
It had been this way since Jaydan arrived at Prince George’s Hospital Center with a bullet lodged in his brain Oct. 3, cradled by a D.C. police officer in the back of a cruiser. He was hit as he left a playground near his home at an apartment complex in Washington about 9 p.m., caught in the crossfire of two men shooting at each other.
On Wednesday, Jaydan, whose recovery has been described as miraculous, was released from MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital, walking on his own with a slow and tenuous gait because of weakness that afflicts the left side of his body. He wore a helmet to protect his brain near where part of his skull had been removed.
Asked what he was thinking about as he waited to be loaded into the family’s SUV, he said, “Home.”
In some ways, the departure is bittersweet because it means leaving the sanctuary of the hospital, where Nichols knew her son would be safe. She shared a bed with him, an arrangement that he did not always appreciate. She made the room “homelike,” decorating it with a Seattle Seahawks banner, basketball hoops, a Christmas tree and photographs of his siblings.
Still, Jaydan’s release signals tremendous progress. In the aftermath of the shooting, a minister was called to pray over the boy because he was not expected to survive more than a half-hour, his mother said. But as the minister grasped his palm, the boy moved his hand, the start of a recovery that has impressed his doctors.
Since then, Jaydan has relearned to walk, although he still requires a wheelchair. With the aid of a harness, he stood on his own and bested hospital spokesman Bob Searson in a game of H-O-R-S-E on a kid-size hoop.
“I’m overjoyed with Jaydan’s recovery,” Nichols said. “He’s been through a lot. … He just took it blow by blow and overcame every obstacle in his way.”
For New Year’s Eve, Nichols planned to take Jaydan to a hotel with an indoor pool because he loves to swim. She said she would allow him to stay up late and ring in the holiday with sparkling apple cider, another of his favorites.
“I want to get out and breathe some fresh air,” she said.
