INDIANAPOLIS — An Indianapolis mom is collecting mementos from Hoosiers for the National Gun Violence Memorial Project. The memorial is a powerful tribute to lives lost to or impacted by gun violence, that recently opened in Washington, D.C.
It's also very personal to DeAndra Dycus.
Seven years ago, her family was forever changed by gun violence.
DeAndra's son Dre, an honors student and basketball player, was critically injured by a stray bullet fired into a friend's home during a birthday party.
He was struck in the head and doctors didn't think he'd live seven days, let alone seven years.
But Dre can't talk.
He can't walk.
Because of the shooting, he became a non-verbal quadriplegic at age 13.
"But Dre is to me the definition of a survivor. He's really living through having his life so turned upside down by gun violence," Dycus said.
Dre turns 21 years old this weekend and as part of the annual basketball tournament celebrating his survival, "Pray 4 Dre, Play 4 Dre", his mom is trying to help all Hoosiers affected by gun violence.
She's collecting mementos of lost loved ones and survivors for the National Gun Violence Memorial Project in Washington, D.C.
"This will allow an opportunity to allow the world to see that piece of your heart," Dycus explained.
The memorial is a peaceful and highly personal space that just opened this year. It 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.
"It's very heart-wrenching that so many people will be a part of it but what an honor to, you know, have our stories elevated in this way," Dycus said.
On Sunday, Sept. 26, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Forest Manor Middle School, families affected by gun violence can bring an artifact to Dre's celebration.
They can choose to temporarily loan it or make it a permanent part of the national memorial.
Dycus said the goal of these tributes is to make trauma from guns personal for visitors, so they see more than a number.
The museum hosting the memorial also wants to create a more intimate conversation about the need for change.
"That's absolutely what I hope will happen. Maybe they'll see a hat and know that it's not covering a head anymore or a shirt and know that it's not covering a body anymore," Dycus said. "So much happens, you know, after the [bullet] leaves its chamber and it impacts a family and this memorial will just be an amazing, amazing tribute to what that 'so much more' is like."
Dycus is still deciding on her family's artifact.
She said her son Dre's brick likely will hold something about basketball.
"I have some ideas," she said. "It'll have something to do with the short time that he was able to play basketball. You know, his smile would light up a room and when he was on that basketball court, he was just ... to me he would say 'mom I was invisible out there!' I just want them to know how amazing my son was -- and still is."
She wants people to see Dre's spirit, his spark, that he's more than a statistic.
Anyone who'd like to contribute a remembrance item for the memorial is being asked to pre-register online before Sunday's collection.