Once Fighting for Her Life, 5-Year-Old Graduates Preschool

Why does it take a 3-year-old connection to a random shooting to capture the media's attention for a preschool graduation for children with special needs? Really struggling with this one.

Anyway, here are two inspiring story from WABC-TV's Eyewitness News and the New York Daily News.

NEW YORK —

Three years ago, a baby girl named Patience Boyd was shot in the head, caught in the crossfire on a street in the Bronx.

At times, doctors warned her family the then-2-year-old might not make it. But Wednesday was proof that Patience has won outThe 5-year-old is looking forward to kindergarten with a reason to smile and wave after sharing the stage with her classmates at the graduation for the New York League For Early Learning Gramercy School.
"It's a huge accomplishment," mom Lisandra Garcia said. "I didn't think she was going to make it this far.

NEW YORK — The infectious smile on the 5-year-old girl’s face brought tears to her mother’s eyes.

Precocious little Patience Boyd nearly died three years ago when a gunman’s random bullet tore through her head on a Bronx street. Her prognosis was dire, and her mom, Lisandra Garcia, was devastated.

“She couldn’t talk,” Garcia recalled Tuesday. “She didn’t have facial expressions. She would look at you, and that’s the most you would get from Patience.”

The courageous kid has since made a miraculous comeback, and she graduates Wednesday from the preschool program at YAI — a network of agencies assisting people with disabilities.