Images based on scans of the man’s skull and brain showing where the bullet travelled (Picture: American Journal of Case Reports/ISI)
A farmer who was shot in the head survived, despite the bullet tearing through his brain, doctors revealed.
The 29-year-old, from the island of Crete in Greece, was shot by a handgun at a range of around 10 metres.
The bullet shattered as it made its way through the left hemisphere of his brain and lodged near the back of his skull.
He was rushed to hospital in a ‘comatose state’, where surgeons removed part of his skull to extract as many bullet fragments as possible and remove pressure on his brain.
Around 97% of people who are shot in the head die, but two and a half years on and the man is still alive.
However, as is the case for most of those who do survive, he has been left with a variety disabilities, reports the MailOnline.
He can now only speak in ‘monosyllabic utterances’, struggles to understand complex language and suffers from involuntary spasms on the right side of his body as well as difficulties moving muscles on the left side.
The bullet went through the left part of the man’s brain, which processes language (Picture: American Journal of Case Reports/ISI)
The bullet ended up lodged in the back of the man’s skull (Picture: American Journal of Case Reports/ISI)
However, researchers said he still has emotions, could follow basic instructions and could signal what he wanted – such as to go home -by making sounds and facial movements.
His family also told medics he recalled events that had happened in the past.
A report about the man’s case, written by doctors at General University Hospital of Heraklion, Greece, was recently featured in the American Journal of Case Reports.
In it, medics said the bullet went through the left side of his brain, which processes language and directs movements on the right side of the body.
It did not touch the right side of the brain, which is responsible for emotions, problem solving and movements on the left side of the body.
Most people shot in the head will either die from shock or because the bullet has struck areas of the brain that control crucial functions such as breathing or the heartbeat.
Crete in Greece has a strong gun-owning tradition (Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
In his case, the bullet missed those areas.
The man spent two and a half months in hospital, where he received a partial skull reconstruction, before moving to a patient rehabilitation centre for 18 months.
The report did not say who shot the man or whether it was an accident or an intentional attack.
Crete has a strong gun-owning tradition, with one local report saying that ‘Crete and guns go together’.
However, Greek laws state guns can only be owned if they’re used for hunting or target practice and not self defence.
In 2020, a two-year-old boy in Harlesden, London survived after being shot in the head at close range, after the bullet missed an artery by a millimetre.
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