It Is Unusual To Hear About Victims Winning......

A tale of inspiration

How little boy battled back from near-fatal stabbing

By JOE WARMINGTON

The great work they do is so important to so many."

-- Chief William Blair on Victim Services Toronto.

This is a story about hope, about never quitting, strong families, good medical professionals, victims' advocates and great cops.

This is a good-news story that came out of a very bad incident.

When the knife penetrated the boy's neck the blade severed everything all the way into his spine.

It did not look promising.

But sometimes unexplained miracles just happen. If they wrote a movie on this story perhaps they could call it The Miracle at Christie Station! Everybody on the scene outside the subway station was pretty sure even if the boy did live, he would never walk again.

In fact, some thought at best he would be lucky if he could even blink his eyes.

"A 13-year-old boy stabbed in the neck during a gang attack Friday evening has been paralyzed from the neck down," the Sun's Brian Gray wrote on June 24, 2007.

"It's not good, he's a quadriplegic and it's permanent," a detective told Brian.

It was so sad because this kid was just "in the wrong place at the wrong time." He had intercepted a fight among gang members and now he was going to die or be disabled.

But this was a different kind of kid. We know him as J. because two of the people who tried to kill him are still at large.

Turns out the knife did not sever the spine and even though the odds against it were great, the boy started to sit up and then stand and then, with equipment, walked. Before long, he was running out of the hospital with a smile on his face.

"He is 16 now and doing fine," said his mom, Josette Drummond, at the Chief of Police Gala in support of Victim Services Toronto at the Four Seasons Wednesday evening. "There are still some problems, but for the most part he is great."

It certainly didn't look like it was going to turn out like that. Most had written the boy's chances off.

But not Josette and not Victim Services Toronto, who she credits with offering so much. "They were there every step of the way for my son's recovery," Drummond said. "They are amazing."

She appreciated what they did for her son so much that she has joined the board and is trying to help grow the service which already help 20,000 people every year.

I know that at the Sun table reporters Ian Robertson, Antonella Artuso and Tamara Cherry, columnists Mark Bonokoski and Sue-Ann Levy, deputy editor James Wallace, editorial page editor Rob Granatstein and our publisher Mike Power were all captivated by Drummond's brave and inspirational words.

To make a donation to Victim Services, you can call 416-808-7933. Chief Blair called Victim Services the "unsung heroes" of Toronto who "do so much to restore, rebuild and enhance the quality of life of those touched by serious crime."

Josette's son J is living, breathing, walking and even running proof.