The "Twelve Year Old Boy Shot In Chest.....Shooter Walks Free!!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Emailing back and forth with my cousin Susan who's a few years my junior and lives near Strasburg, Pennsylvania amongst the Amish.  Susan is one of ten cousins that are part of my extended family and is the middle child of my Aunt Virginia and Uncle Bob.  Uncle Bob died years ago, but my Aunt Virginia, Susan's mother, happens to live across the street from her daughter Susan.  When Carol and I decided to downsize to a larger house (that's a whole other story) after our three children were all in college, Susan acted as our realtor.  She sold our home in Grandview Heights the same day we listed it and then helped us with the purchase of our new home.   Susan's husband Gary helps run a heating  and cooling company in Lancaster County.  In an email a few days ago, Susan was telling me about a recent medical problem that Gary had experienced and that his blood pressure happened to be 256/144.  She went on to tell me that, "that is normal to them, since Gary suffers from white coat syndrome as I am sure I have mentioned before due to him being shot when he was 12 years old by a neighbor boy and riding alone in the ambulance cause his mom and dad were in another county visiting relatives."  After reading her email I looked at Carol and said, "Listen to this," as I read the email to her.  "Did you ever know that Gary had been shot when he was a kid?" I asked her.  In no time I was emailing Susan back to find out more about her husband's shooting as a child.  Later in the day I had the story which Susan said I could share.  Went like this: "Gary lived down at the covered bridge in Lime Valley.  He had some neighbor boys that he played baseball with who lived on the other side of the creek.  They played baseball on a Saturday or Sunday and had ghost runners and whatnot going on.  Gary was winning and had to go help with the milking of the farmer's cows back the long lane which he did 2 times a day for 50 cents a milking, but first he went to go inside his house and the neighbor boy called out his name and Gary turned to look and that's when the boy shot him with a 22 rifle.  Gary yelled to the neighbor boys, 'I'm shot.'  The neighbor boy was mad that Gary had to go and didn't finish the game and the fact that Gary was winning didn't help matters.  Gary's parents were visiting relatives in another county so the boys' mother drove him to Dr. Witmer's office in Willow Street and Gary could feel the bullet coming out his back.  It entered from the upper right chest.  Gary said when he sat and leaned back he could feel it poking out his back.  He got to the docs and the doc just ripped Gary's shirt off and that's when Gary got really scared and the doc called the ambulance and off they went; lights, sirens, the whole shebang and poor Gary thought he was going to die and was all alone.  By the time he got there his uncle met him, thank goodness.  So, Gary survived the doc said because he was breathing OUT and not IN when he was shot so the bullet missed his lung.  Gary was in a room with a Strasburg boy, James Walk, who was in my class at Strasburg Elementary and had accidentally shot himself with a firecracker I think.  So, at least they sort of knew each other.  So, that's why, to this day and beyond, poor Gary has a serious case of White Coat Syndrome.  He always looks calm on the outside, but on his insides it's nothing but a jangled up mess of wires and nerves and brain waves when he goes to the docs or the hospital, thus the very shocking BP readings."  After reading Susan's story I  quickly emailed her asking what ever happened to the boy who shot Gary.  Her response was:  "Nothing happened to the boy that shot Gary. Not one thing.  No charges pressed. Nothing.   Today you learned about white coat syndrome.  Did you look it up?  It's a true story."  So what is white coat syndrome?  Some people find that their blood pressure is normal at home, but rises slightly when they're at the doctor.  This is known as white coat syndrome or the white coat effect.  The syndrome gets its name from the doctors and medical staff who sometimes wear white coats in a professional setting.  Gary recovered from the shooting, but the experience caused the white coat effect that Gary now suffers from.  And now, any medical problem causes Gary's system to revert back to the time, long ago, when he was shot.  Sadly, it probably will never go away.  There is no medicine or medical procedure that can relieve Gary's anxiety when he must visit a doctor or go to a hospital.  He must suffer with this for the rest of his life.  And the perpetrator has walked free!! All part of kids just being kids I guess.  Think what would have happened today if the same thing would have happened.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.