26-year-old Renato Silva is valiantly fighting for his life in the neurosurgical unit of Perpignan Hospital after being shot in the head in last week’s terror attack that killed four and injured 10 (click here).
Parents Ana and Duarte Nuno Silva are keeping friends and family updated on their son’s progress via Facebook, vowing that he is “strong and with a passion for life”.
“He loves living”, his mother told reporters from her son’s bedside. “We have every hope that he will recover… One day at a time”.
Right now the young man who “always had a smile on his face” is in an induced coma with a “reserved prognosis” as doctors wait before attempting to remove the bullet still lodged in his head.
Reports say the most important detail at the moment is to prevent the bullet from moving.
Renato was conscious right up until the moment he arrived in hospital on Friday, and even telephoned his mother moments after he was shot though he could not explain to her exactly what had happened.
Renato and his passenger, 60-year-old Jean Mazières (sadly killed in the attack) were victims of a brutal carjacking before the Moroccan who shot them used the car to go on to commit further atrocities in the nearby town of Trèbes.
According to reports, the two men were simply on their way to buy bread.
As the young Portuguese’s mother has written over Facebook, her son was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The family emigrated to France from Casas Novas in the borough of Coimbra where everyone who knew them is rooting for Renato’s recovery.
natasha.donn@algarveresident.com
Photo: Renato with his parents Ana and Duarte Nuno – uploaded by the family onto Facebook as they wait for doctors to decide the way forwards
