Colorado Shooting Victim Defies Odds
COOPER: Tonight, a "360 Follow" about Petra Anderson, one of the Aurora</s>DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hit by a shotgun blast, one pellet going through her brain. Petra Anderson is already walking, telling jokes and talking of going to grad school for a degree in music in the fall. Amazing. When even her doctor says it's a miracle she's alive. Her family's expectations for recovery are high.</s>KIM ANDERSON, PETRA ANDERSON'S MOTHER: A hundred percent. I mean, honestly, 100 percent. She's just -- she's so amazing. She's so determined.</s>MATTINGLY: And that determination appears natural to a family that seemed to be faced with an impossible choice. This video appeared online less than two days after the Aurora, Colorado, shooting.</s>CHLOE ANDERSON, SISTER: My sister's hospital bills on top of that are making the financial reality look pretty daunting.</s>MATTINGLY: While the country was still in shock, Petra's sister, Chloe, launched a fundraising campaign and revealed her family's heartbreaking dilemma.</s>C. ANDERSON: So that's why we're reaching out to you, the people that have already asked us what you can do to help. So that we don't have to choose between my sister's care and my mother's treatment.</s>MATTINGLY: Petra's mother, Kim Anderson, was due to undergo expensive experimental treatment in hopes of stopping the cancer that has spread throughout her body. Giving into the cancer and devoting the time and the money she had left to Petra seemed the obvious choice.</s>K. ANDERSON: I was just thinking about -- how can I help Petra the most? What can I do that would help her the most?</s>MATTINGLY: But Petra wouldn't allow it. Luck was already on their side. The pellet that entered her brain crossed the part controlling speech, language and memory. Her doctors said, had the pellet wavered a millimeter in any direction, she would have likely died. Petra beat some astronomical , and she wanted her mother to do the same.</s>C. ANDERSON: And what happens happens. But...</s>K. ANDERSON: Right.</s>C. ANDERSON: ... she needs her mom to be fighting so that she can fight. And I think you need her to be fighting so that you can fight. So...</s>K. ANDERSON: Yes, I do.</s>C. ANDERSON: So they're in this together, and they're going to pull each other through.</s>MATTINGLY: Petra's fight will be to return to her music: to start composing, and to pick up her violin, which has been silent since the shooting. Her therapy of choice has been to listen as her boyfriend plays his clarinet. Private concerts in her room keep her focused on healing.</s>C. ANDERSON: Her mind is the thing that she just loves to use. And it's slower, you know, and I know that's going to be really hard. It will be harder for her than if she had to learn to walk again.</s>MATTINGLY: Her mom's hardships would seem to compound the family stress. Instead, they see it as a challenge.</s>K. ANDERSON: You can give the evil the last word. And the setbacks and the disasters. You can let them destroy you. Or you can take it back.</s>MATTINGLY: So Petra Anderson's family made a statement of defiance heard around the world.</s>C. ANDERSON: Thank you for standing with us and letting this joker know that he may have intended it as his story, but we're taking it back. Are you ready to believe?</s>MATTINGLY: And at a time of so much sadness, the answer to that question was a resounding yes. Thousands of people responded to the Andersons' call for action. They set a lofty goal of raising a quarter of a million dollars, enough to pay for their medical expenses, with enough left over for a sizable contribution to the families of other victims. The response has been almost as surprising as Petra herself.</s>C. ANDERSON: She's inspired a lot of people in the last couple of weeks. Or couple days. I guess it's only been one week. She's inspired a lot of people in the last week.</s>MATTINGLY: And inspiration brings hope. Hope that Petra will one day soon pick up her violin and begin playing. And hope that her mother will now beat the odds, as well. David Mattingly, CNN, Aurora, Colorado.</s>COOPER: We certainly wish Petra and her mother the best as they face the challenges ahead. Joining me is CNN chief medical correspondent and practicing neurosurgeon, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. So Sanjay, her doctor says it's amazing that she's even alive. Where exactly did the bullet enter her brain, and how did they get it out?</s>DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is pretty remarkable. Let me show you if I can quickly. I brought a model of the skull here, Anderson. I don't know how well you can appreciate this. But what they described first of all is a shotgun blast. But one particular pellet they talked about actually coming in through sort of the left side her nose into an area. You have some sinuses sort of in that area just above where the bullet would have the entered. And then it sort of passed all the way through the brain, sort of on the left side of the brain, and ended up in the back of the head somewhere over here. So what's so remarkable is you have many blood vessels. You have obviously parts of the brain that control speech, control motor strength. It's unclear to us still exactly how much of that's going to be affected. But, you know, this was a -- it's really thread the needle here, so to speak, in terms of causing possible damage to some vital structures.</s>COOPER: You're talking about, I mean, a millimeter either way could be devastating.</s>GUPTA: Yes. So you know, when you think about these types of injuries, you think about a bullet going through the brain. And what you have to remember is that oftentimes ahead of the bullet you have sort of a blast wave. You may have heard this described, Anderson, when you've been covering wars. That blast wave sort of precedes the actual projectile. So in a way, it's sort of moving things out of the way as a result of that. But, still, the bullet, if it had gone through a particular blood vessel there, and there are several that are large, that would have been a catastrophic injury. If it had been lower within the brain, it could have injured the brain stem. And that's a part of the brain that's responsible for one's ability to breathe on their own, control their heart rate. So that would have been devastating, as well.</s>COOPER: It's so incredible. Her mom says she's listening to classical music as part of her recovery. We've seen a lot of other cases -- Gabby Giffords comes to mind-- where music seems to aid a person's recovery. How does that work? How -- does it actually help heal the brain?</s>GUPTA: I find this really fascinating. And I think it does. And actually, I learned a little bit there as we were reporting on Gabby Giffords, because I spent time with the therapists who were treating her. Music is one of the few things, Anderson, if you think about trying to sing a song, for example. There's several different parts of your brain that are immediately sort of harnessed. Just remembering the words, for example. Your speech. Your ability to say those words. That's the expression of that speech. Your ability to actually, now, carry a tune. That causes the sort of activity to cross over from the left side of the brain to the right side of the brain. To remember that tune and carry that tune. So music can be a remarkable thing. Also, someone who is just learning to walk. If you find a song that has a particular cadence to it. I was doing "the saints come marching in" with this particular physical therapist. You can learn to sort of re-establish your rhythm. Standing up out of a chair or taking a few steps. So it can be quite remarkable in situations like this.</s>COOPER: That's so cool. Sanjay, thanks.</s>GUPTA: Thank you.</s>COOPER: We'll continue to follow her recovery and the recovery of other survivors, as well. Ahead tonight, the world's largest blackout: 600 million people -- imagine that -- powerless and dealing with extreme heat, transportation shutdowns. We'll tell you where it's happening and cause when we continue.