Dr. David Piazza, the Medical Director of Trauma Surgery at Edward Hospital, gave an update on Michael Case, the 45-year-old who was shot in the abdomen at the Naperville Metra station about two weeks ago.
Case remains in critical but stable condition and has currently undergone two major operations, in which doctors cleared out the injury site and worked on the affected organs.
Dr. Piazza says Case is extremely lucky to be alive.
“Most people with an injury near this site, don’t make it, I’m just going to tell you that,” said Dr. Piazza.” The vena cava is nearby, the portal vein, which drains in the liver, these are vessels that are bigger than your thumb, and very fortunately he missed both of those by millimeters.”
Case will likely undergo at least two more operations before leaving the hospital and will have a long road of rehab ahead of him. But doctors say he is capable of making a full recovery.
“There’s a lot of work to get there, this is going to be a long hard slog, this is not going to be press conference in two weeks saying he’s walking out of there playing baseball or something. This is going to be at least one or two more operations short term, one or two more six months for a year from now and some rehab in between,” added Dr. Piazza.
Case was shot on May 16 while he was standing on the platform at the Naperville Metra Station. Edward Klein, an irate passenger, allegedly shot through the train window at him, striking Case in the torso.
The 79-year-old Wisconsin man has since been charged with attempted murder and aggravated battery and is currently being held on $1.5 million dollar bond.
Case’s family, his Amtrak friends and friends from the Navy each have a Go Fund Me page set up to help with the medical expenses.
Napervile News 17’s Alyssa Bochenek reports.
