Bullet in brain leaves teen in coma

Marilyn Villanueva attends to her daughter Emilyn who remains confined at the intensive care unit of Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center after a bullet hit her in the head on New Year’s Eve. (Photo by GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE/Philippine Daily Inquirer)

If Marilyn Villanueva had her way, it would always be the last day of the year, hours away from the instant in which a bullet would hit her 15-year-old daughter in the head, leaving her in a coma.

“I wish time had stood still. I wish Dec. 31 never ended. Do you want a new year to start like this?” Villanueva told reporters on Sunday.

At 11:45 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, her daughter Emilyn was watching a fireworks display near their house in Malabon City when she was struck by a bullet.

“Had I known this would happen to my daughter, I would have prayed for time to stand still,” Villanueva said as she was watching over her daughter at Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center (JRRMMC) in Sta. Cruz, Manila.

At a news conference, Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial was teary-eyed as she referred to Emilyn, a scholar, as one of the four victims of indiscriminate firing during the holiday season.

The police, however, clarified that the one who fired the bullet did so deliberately, although the teenager was not the target.

Police issues clarification

In a text message, the National Capital Region Police Office said: “A correction on the earlier statement made by the Department of Health (DOH) on the alleged stray bullet incident that wounded the 15-year-old in Malabon who is now in critical condition. It is not a stray bullet but a shooting incident.”

In a separate phone interview, Northern Police District director Senior Supt. Robert Fajardo explained that Emilyn was not a victim of indiscriminate firing.

“It was not a stray bullet. There was fighting and someone fired a gun and hit the girl,” he told the Inquirer.

Fajardo declined to disclose further details, only saying that the “real target was currently giving his statement to the Malabon police.”

Emilyn’s injury, according to Ubial, was “very damaging to her brain,” leaving her in “near fatal condition.”

She added: She is fighting for her life at the hospital where she is “in a deep coma.”

JRRMMC hospital director Dr. Emmanuel Montaña Jr. described the teenage girl as having a “very low chance” of survival.

The bullet damaged 50 percent of her brain, affecting the parts responsible for speech, motion and other critical functions, he said.

Unlike the police, however, other doctors believed that she was a victim of indiscriminate firing because the bullet pierced the top of her head.

“We think that it’s a stray bullet because it came from above,” Montaña said.

According to him, the bullet remains lodged in Emilyn’s brain and operating would only endanger her life.

Miracle, prayers sought

“She needs a miracle and we need to pray for her,” health department spokesperson Dr. Eric Tayag said.

The teenager was with her aunt and cousins near a basketball court on Sacristia Street in Barangay San Agustin when she fell to the ground. She was rushed to a nearby hospital before being taken to JRRMMC.

Since then, her parents, who are fisherfolk, have been watching over at the intensive care unit, hoping for an improvement in her condition.

Villanueva described Emilyn as a good daughter who always helped them look after her younger siblings. She would even wash their uniforms and take them to school, she said.

A studious child, she hates missing classes. She also loves to cook and dreams of becoming a chef, her mother said.

Hours before the shooting, Emilyn cleaned their entire house and did their laundry. The gesture left Villanueva surprised and happy.

“Do you admire me now?” she teased her mother in one of their last conversations.

Villanueva said that watching the fireworks with her cousins had become a tradition for Emilyn. She was exhausted and had fallen asleep in their house when her daughter was shot.

At first, she and the neighbors thought that the teen had just passed out. It was only after they took her to the hospital that they found out something more serious had befallen her.

2 more shooting victims

In Quezon City, two gunshot victims were in stable condition after being rushed to East Avenue Medical Center (EAMC) a few minutes after the New Year.

Dr. Emmanuel Galor, head of EAMC Department of Emergency Medicine, said that one was intentionally shot in the face by a neighbor while the other was hit by a stray bullet.

Pipoy Seguera, 20, was admitted to EAMC at 12:15 a.m. after a neighbor shot him in Barangay Holy Spirit for setting off a firecracker.

At 12:50 a.m., 16-year-old Leomar Aquino was admitted for a chest gunshot wound. He was watching a fireworks display outside their home in Barangay Batasan Hills when he felt something hit him in the shoulder. —With Dexter Cabalza/Philippine Daily Inquirer