INDIANAPOLIS — A community came together for an annual event at Forest Manor Middle School to celebrate Dre Dycus' 21st birthday. It was a celebration of life and survival.
"Even though there's grief, I'm still very grateful," said DeAndra Dycus, Dre's mom.
DeAndra said she's grateful to have her son with her another year.
Dre was shot in the head by a stray bullet fired into a friend's home during a birthday party.
Dre can't talk or walk. Because of the shooting, he became a nonverbal quadriplegic at 13 years old.
"Seven and a half years ago, they said Dre would only live three days, and so for him to still be here and us to have an opportunity to celebrate, it means everything," DeAndra said.
The community came out to support Sunday's 7th annual "Pray 4 Dre, Play 4 Dre" event.
Families affected by gun violence also brought an artifact to Dre's celebration. They can choose to temporarily loan it or make it a permanent part of the National Gun Violence Memorial Project in Washington, D.C.
The memorial opened this year and features fragile glass houses with 700 glass bricks that represent the number of people killed by guns in the U.S. each week. Each brick holds an object, a memory of a victim.
"I brought a T-shirt to be on display at the memorial, and it's a picture of Dre before the shooting. It just takes me back to that beforehand and what life was like before," DeAndra said. "This is just a way to say, 'Hey, these are our loved ones, and this is what they meant to us.'"
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