He made a miraculous recovery once — now his family is counting on him to do it again.
Jaheem Hunter — an inspiring Bronx boy who endured months of grueling surgeries and rehab after being hit in the head with a stray bullet on his fifth birthday — is back in the hospital after spending a few precious weeks home with his family.
The new complication reversed much of the progress that allowed him to return to his sister’s Yonkers home two weeks before Christmas after six months in the hospital and rehab.
“It’s a step back,” his sister and guardian Aja Holmes told the Daily News. “He did not want to go back (to the hospital). I felt so bad for him.”
Boy, 5, rushed to hospital after recovering from Bronx shooting
During his first go-round in the hospital and rehab, surgeons performed a tracheotomy and two cranioplasties on Jaheem — one to remove part of his skull and the other to fuse it back in.
But an unexpected infection has forced doctors to remove the plate and he once again has to wear a helmet to protect the soft spot in his skull.
Jaheem celebrated Christmas at home after months of rehabilitation, making the front page of the Daily News' Dec. 25 edition.
(New York Daily News)“He woke up and he just started crying and touching his head, trying to tell me his head was hurt,” Holmes said of little Jaheem after the latest surgery.
The tough tyke was stepping out of his father’s Morrisania apartment on June 5 when a gunman with a long criminal record opened fire at a rival over a drug deal.
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A slug pierced Jaheem’s skull. He was rushed to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Columbia for lifesaving care. The boy was later transferred to Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Westchester County, where he slowly learned to talk, walk and write again.
Doctors discharged him in December, allowing him to spend the holidays with his family — and several special guests. A trifecta of Knicks visited to drop off presents and play a game of hoops with him.
But on the morning of Dec. 30, Holmes found him lying on the floor speaking incoherently.
The Bronx boy was hit in the head with a stray bullet on June 5, 2017 and is still recovering.
(Provided by family)“He was drooling, bumping into things,” said Holmes, who now splits her time between visiting Jaheem, caring for her own 5-year-old son and working a full-time job.
Boy, 5, shot in Bronx thrilled to celebrate Christmas with family
Doctors were concerned Jaheem suffered a stroke. But a CAT scan revealed he had fluid in his head and his white blood cell count had spiked, indicating an infection. Jaheem’s medical team was hopeful they could wait out the infection and avoid another surgery, but his head began to swell.
“The fluid that was in his head burst out of his head and onto the pillow,” Holmes said. I was trying to explain to him that he had a boo-boo on his head and they needed to check it out.”
He will be at Blythedale for the next two months as doctors make sure his infection clears.
He’ll eventually have to endure another surgery — in which doctors will likely replace the missing part of his skull with titanium mesh. As he continues to grow, the mesh will have to be continually replaced.
Boy, 5, takes first steps three months after being shot in Bronx
Doctors will most likely have to replace the missing part of Jaheem's skull with titanium mesh.
(Gardiner Anderson/for New York Daily News)But Jaheem’s fighting spirit has inspired people to come to his aid.
Long Island philanthropist Sandra Atlas Bass reached out to Holmes last week to make a donation. Bass made one request when she spoke to Holmes — that the family use the money to buy Jaheem a present he really wants.
“To see a little boy suffer like that, it just went to my heart,” Bass said.
Holmes said she stays awake at night thinking of Jaheem’s future. “He’s bounced right on back,” she said. “But is he going to continue to be strong enough?”