A Florida man is crediting God and a cross necklace for helping save his life.
Aiden Perry, 20, was just feet from a .40-caliber pistol June 7, when he was shot in the chest — an incident that could have abruptly ended his life.
But the Lord apparently had other plans.
Rather than an intentional attack, the incident reportedly happened when a friend was showing off the gun, and the firearm accidentally went off.
“I looked down, I see tons of blood,” Perry told WOFL-TV of the moments after the incident. “I thought I was going to die, honestly.”
He’s crediting the Lord, though, for saving his life.
“I think God played a big role in this,” Aidan Perry, who is in some pain and will take some time to recover, told WESH-TV of his survival. “I think He’s the reason that I’m still here today.”
He told another media outlet that, although he had faith before, this incident has strengthened it.
“It’s just kind of a reminder now – to never stop believing,” Perry said. “Keep believing and God’s definitely real.”
Doctors agree the necklace helped save Perry’s life. Physicians at HCA Florida Ocala Hospital told WESH-TV that the metallic components helped to shield “a lot of the force of the bullet.”
“The bullet ricocheted off the necklace and entered his chest small,” Dr. Khafra Garcia-Henry said. “However, it was just in his fat tissues because it slowed down the trajectory of the bullet.”
If the necklace wasn’t on Perry at the time of the shooting, Garcia-Henry — who called the patient “extremely lucky” — said we’d have a very different outcome.
“[The bullet could’ve] entered his chest wall itself, into the pleural space, which is the airspace around the lung between the bones and injuring his lung itself or his heart,” the physician said.
The cross was a Christmas gift from Perry’s dad, Aaron.
Pray for Perry as he continues to recover. The man responsible was arrested and charged with culpable negligence causing injury, according to WESH-TV.
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