Young Zayden Garrett rejoices in Thanksgiving with family after being wounded in Chicago shooting at West Pullman residence

Thanksgiving is a time to appreciate all that we have, especially for one Chicago family this year. They are grateful to be gathered around the table after a harrowing incident in which a precious life was almost lost due to a shooting on the South Side last month.

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7-year-old Zayden Garrett, along with his twin brother Xavier, was happily playing in the living room on the West Side while the kitchen was bustling with the preparation of a Thanksgiving feast for the large family. The turkey, stuffing, and macaroni were all set, and young Zayden swiftly joined his grandmother and great-grandmother to help taste-test the delicious foods.

“I’m thankful to be alive and be with my family,” Zayden said.

Only six weeks prior, Zayden had left Comer Children’s Hospital, donning a Spiderman outfit from head to toe, after undergoing two critical surgeries. These surgeries involved the partial amputation of both his lungs. The incident that led to these surgeries occurred on October 7 in the West Pullman neighborhood. Zayden was innocently sitting at his grandmother’s dinner table, awaiting pizza when he was struck by a bullet fired from the street by an unknown individual inside a white sedan.

READ MORE | Boy, 7, released from hospital after being shot during pizza party inside West Pullman home

“He’s good. He’s great. It’s like nothing every happened to him,” Zayden’s grandmother Rosie Liggins said. “He’s back bouncing around. He’s back to school. Everything is perfectly fine. There’s not pain for him. No sleepless nights.”

While police have yet to find the shooter, Zayden’s grandmother says investigators have remained in close contact with her, even inviting the family over for an early Thanksgiving last week. Between that, and what she says has been the invaluable support of Curtis Elementary School, where Zayden and his brother are in the second grade, the family has managed to put a positive twist on what could have been a terrible tragedy.

“I’m so thankful that he’s here,” Liggins said. “I am. I don’t know what I would do if he weren’t with us on Thanksgiving. It would not be a Thanksgiving. This is my Thanksgiving.”

This year, Thanksgiving is also a time of new beginnings, with Zayden’s grandmother getting ready to move the family into a new home next week.