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CNN Live Today

Youngest Sniper Survivor

Aired December 13, 2002 - 11:28   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: For the first time, we have heard from the youngest victim of the Washington-area sniper spree, and we heard from him directly this morning, surrounded by the family members and staff who are accompanying him on his long road to recovery from his wounds. The 13-year-old came out, and he spoke rather candidly of his brush with death this morning.
Our Bob Franken was there to hear the whole thing, and he checks in now live.

Hello, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Leon.

Of course, we got to share yesterday our first sight of him, and you and I marveled how robust he looked. We got the chance to hear from him. The family explained that its reticence has been to the fact that this was just so overwhelming, as any parent can understand.

But in any case, the young man got to describe exactly how it is that he's feeling now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Brown family has requested that we hold this press conference as an opportunity for them to express their gratitude for all the support, prayers and well wishes they received on behalf of...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: Hopefully we'll be able to hear from the young man himself, Iran Brown.

HARRIS: Bob, sorry about that. Technical problem there with the tape.

FRANKEN: Leon, let me just paraphrase what he said. He said that he is feeling stronger every day. He feels like, in fact, that he is recovering, although he is reminded when he gets a little bit too active that he still has a way to go. Sometimes lifting is a problem. One thing that's very interesting, he talks about the fact, apparently he is a real basketball nut. He says that he's recovered enough that he is now shooting some buckets, but he's not doing as much as he had been doing in the past.

Now what at a contrast this is, we pointed this out before, to just a little bit over two months ago at Benjamin Tasker Middle School, which is that junior high school level school in Prince George's County, where at 8:30 in the morning, approximately, on October 7th, he was shot down by a sniper, came within an inch of his life when he came to this hospital, the Children's National Medical Center here in Washington D.C. The doctors worked feverishly, thought they were going to lose him, and now they are proud of the work they've done, and everybody says they're very proud of this spunky kid who's only looking forward to getting back to school -- Leon.

HARRIS: What did the doctor say about future surgeries or his conditions down the road?

FRANKEN: Really, I was quite struck by just how little has to be done. First of all, the child loss his spleen, which has an awful lot to do with coping with infection, so the doctor said he will need to be on antibiotics for a few years until the body learns, in effect, to deal with infection without the spleen.

There also are going to be some intestinal tract problems, although the doctor also pointed out you can look at the child and see he is eating very well, which is quite surprising considering the significant damage that was done in the abdominal system of his body.

HARRIS: All right, good deal. Bob Franken, reporting live from Washington.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired December 13, 2002 - 11:28   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: For the first time, we have heard from the youngest victim of the Washington-area sniper spree, and we heard from him directly this morning, surrounded by the family members and staff who are accompanying him on his long road to recovery from his wounds. The 13-year-old came out, and he spoke rather candidly of his brush with death this morning.
Our Bob Franken was there to hear the whole thing, and he checks in now live.

Hello, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Leon.

Of course, we got to share yesterday our first sight of him, and you and I marveled how robust he looked. We got the chance to hear from him. The family explained that its reticence has been to the fact that this was just so overwhelming, as any parent can understand.

But in any case, the young man got to describe exactly how it is that he's feeling now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Brown family has requested that we hold this press conference as an opportunity for them to express their gratitude for all the support, prayers and well wishes they received on behalf of...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: Hopefully we'll be able to hear from the young man himself, Iran Brown.

HARRIS: Bob, sorry about that. Technical problem there with the tape.

FRANKEN: Leon, let me just paraphrase what he said. He said that he is feeling stronger every day. He feels like, in fact, that he is recovering, although he is reminded when he gets a little bit too active that he still has a way to go. Sometimes lifting is a problem. One thing that's very interesting, he talks about the fact, apparently he is a real basketball nut. He says that he's recovered enough that he is now shooting some buckets, but he's not doing as much as he had been doing in the past.

Now what at a contrast this is, we pointed this out before, to just a little bit over two months ago at Benjamin Tasker Middle School, which is that junior high school level school in Prince George's County, where at 8:30 in the morning, approximately, on October 7th, he was shot down by a sniper, came within an inch of his life when he came to this hospital, the Children's National Medical Center here in Washington D.C. The doctors worked feverishly, thought they were going to lose him, and now they are proud of the work they've done, and everybody says they're very proud of this spunky kid who's only looking forward to getting back to school -- Leon.

HARRIS: What did the doctor say about future surgeries or his conditions down the road?

FRANKEN: Really, I was quite struck by just how little has to be done. First of all, the child loss his spleen, which has an awful lot to do with coping with infection, so the doctor said he will need to be on antibiotics for a few years until the body learns, in effect, to deal with infection without the spleen.

There also are going to be some intestinal tract problems, although the doctor also pointed out you can look at the child and see he is eating very well, which is quite surprising considering the significant damage that was done in the abdominal system of his body.

HARRIS: All right, good deal. Bob Franken, reporting live from Washington.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com