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DETROIT (WJBK) - A man who was shot 18 times in Lansing several years ago, lived to tell his tale. However, he's paralyzed and in desperate need of some new medical equipment.
Bobby James was visiting a friend 2 1/2 years ago in Lansing when he was shot 18 times. He was airlifted to the Detroit Rehab Institute and stayed there for six months.
"I got shot 18 times and no exit wounds. They had to dig every bullet out," James said. "I was triplegic, now paraplegic. When I was triplegic I couldn't move my arm but now I can. It's just my legs now."
But those legs are the problem now. Doctors tell Bobby that he has an incomplete injury meaning he could walk if he has the proper therapy, and equipment. But there's a problem: he can't get out of the house without help.
"It's kind of heartbreaking for me. I'm a man's man so the pride thing comes into play. It can be hurtful sometimes. She's been a blessing that she's willing to do that," James said about his girlfriend, Tiffany Perry. They've been together since before the shooting.
"I was about to leave and go to work and he stopped me and here we are, 4 years later," she said.
Those 4 years together have been rough.
"It's kind of hard now because I got to depend on epople to help me. I've got to ask somebody to do something. That's why it's good to have good people around you," James said about Tiffany.
The shooter was convicted, he's doing 13 to 20 years in prison. Medicaid does pay for doctors and a nurse visits Bobby in the home. But this situation requires help 24 hours a day, in bad conditions.
"If I sit too long my skin starts to break out. So the bed's close to me so I can move and rotate," he said.
They do make special beds, wheelchairs, ramps for people like Bobby. He doesn't have those- but he does have Tiffany.
"I'm just doing what I'm supposed to do I think," she said.