WAVE 3 - Louisville, KYSix-year-old survivor's story inspires

Six-year-old survivor's story inspires

By Shayla Reaves - bio | email

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - If you believe in miracles, we have an amazing one to share with you, right here in our own community. A little girl was shot and left for dead, but today she is defying all expectations.

She's only in the first grade and already Erica Hughes knows what she wants to be when she grows up. The six year old girl has her own stethoscope, much like the one used by people who once worked to keep her alive. She dreams of having a job like that.

"A nurse and a teacher," said Erica of what she wants to be when she grows up."I like to help people."

There's one person who won't be alive to see that happen, Erica's mother, Earon Harper. Police found the two shot and left for dead inside their home on May 18, 2006. Erica survived. Her mother did not.

"Four o'clock I turned the TV on and we saw all these police cars you know. You know how you think, 'That's not anybody I know.' Next thing I know, I saw the house," Erica's grandmother and Earon's mother Judith Harper said.

Bullets hit Erica in three places.

"My eye and my head and my arm," she said. "The bad boys broke in."

Those bad boys were James Quisenberry and Kenneth Williams.  Both are behind bars and serving times for these two crimes.

Erica is legally blind in her right eye because of her injuries.

"Sometime in life, she might have to have it removed," Judith Harper said.

Still, Judith said Erica helps keep her strong and is the spitting image of her mother, Earon.

"Erica once said, 'Why are you crying, Granny? Are you crying because you miss your Honey?'" Judith said, laughing. "She said 'It will be all right, Granny.' Sometimes you look at her and she's got a little glow in her face you know. Earon was always happy go lucky."

Recently Erica Hughes was interviewed by Dateline NBC for a story scheduled to air nationally in Spring 2010.

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