Prayers for the recovery of Sophia Forchas, who was shot at Annunciation church, are more crucial than ever, as her neurosurgeon said in the most recent update Sept. 5 that she remains hospitalized in critical condition.
Dr. Walt Galicich, chief of neurosurgery at Hennepin Healthcare, gave the update at a press conference, as MPR News reported.
“Continue to pray for Sophia, pray for peace,” Galicich said in an update FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul livestreamed. “Pray with vigor. We need you to keep the fervor with which you are praying and when you pray, move your feet.”
Galicich said at the conference that there is risk of Forchas becoming the third fatality from the shooting. He explained that Forchas is in a medically induced coma and that a bullet that injured crucial blood vessels was lodged in her brain. The left half of Forchas’ skull had to be removed due to swelling, and the swelling could still increase, Galicich said.
Galicich recounted his first assessment of Forchas’ injuries after the shooting and said “If you had told me at this juncture 10 days later that we’d be standing here with any ray of hope, I would’ve said it would take a miracle.”
Indeed, there are now “a few rays of hope” for Forchas, who, as of Sept. 5, had been in the pediatric intensive care unit for 10 days, according to Galicich.
Forchas “is very purposeful on her left side of her body, she’s got some slight movement in her right leg, and she’s opening her eyes,” he explained.
“We’re starting to get out of that worrisome window, but we’re not out of it yet,” Galicich said. “It’s day by day, and I can’t tell you how this is going to end… But we’re a little more optimistic that she’s going to survive.”
No further public updates on Forchas have since been given.
At the time of publication, a GoFundMe for the Forchas family had raised over $1 million. In a Sept. 5 update added to the fundraiser, the organizer shared a statement from Sophia’s parents expressing gratitude for the doctors caring for Sophia and for everyone around the world praying for her.
“We want to give the most heartfelt and greatest THANK YOU to the medical staff that are working to keep her as stable as they can while her brain needs time to heal,” the statement read. “They are doing a tremendous, tremendous job given the nearly impossible task thrust on them.
“We want to thank the entire world who is praying for Sophia! We appreciate every single one of those prayers. We are asking everyone to keep praying; keep praying with fervor and vigor!! Pray with a vigor that mirrors Christ’s vigorous love for us. Sophia is receiving prayers from Oslo to Johannesburg, from Sydney to Santiago, from Vietnam to San Francisco, and from Mt. Athos, Greece to Minneapolis, MN. We want to empress [sic] upon everyone to keep those prayers going. We need everybody to keep praying for Sophia’s recovery.”
In the aftermath of the Aug. 27 shooting, the hospital Children’s Minnesota also admitted several of the other victims for treatment. MPR News reported Sept. 6 that Children’s Minnesota recently released Lydia Kaiser — the last injured shooting victim at the hospital — from its care as she continued to make a good recovery.