Antonio Reese was only nine-years-old when he was the victim of a drive-by shooting on his way to a family dinner. The young boy was shot in the back of the head while riding in his family’s car in March 2015 near Lexington, Kentucky. Antonio’s spent 18 days in a coma and suffered a traumatic brain injury. His mom, Tara Murillo, told WKYT that the child suffers seizures and memory loss as a result.
It Takes A Village
As Antonio awaited his fifth brain surgery in April 2016, his mom was busy trying to fundraise money for his first service dog.
“We’re going to be doing a yard sale and a bake sale to help raise money. We need a fenced back yard for the dog. That’s a requirement for the dog, to have a fenced backyard,” Murillo told WKYT at the time.
The community successfully came together and raised thousands of dollars to help Antonio get his service dog.
Posted by LEX 18 on Thursday, September 22, 2016
Alice joined the family and is working hard to give Antonio some of his childhood back. Antonio is now 13-years-old but he continues to deal with the residual effects of his TBI from four years ago.
Posted by LEX 18 on Thursday, September 22, 2016
Alice goes with Antonio everywhere and she has never missed alerting him to one of his seizures.
Posted by LEX 18 on Thursday, September 22, 2016
Antonio’s mom told Lex18, “She has given me a tremendous feeling of safety. When you have a child that’s so fragile like Antonio is, but it’s truly an invisible disability, everything that he’s going through, from his TBI to his seizures. It truly is an invisible disability and people don’t know it.”