GROESBECK, Texas (KWTX) – Ryen Harris walked across the gym floor to cheers from classmates and teachers as he received his certificate at Groesbeck Middle School graduation, just 10 days after undergoing brain surgery.<\/p>\n
The 14-year-old, who survived an accidental gunshot wound to the head on Christmas Day, walked entirely on his own with only an arm crutch for support. No one held onto him.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo everyone who\u2019s watched Ryen\u2019s journey these past few months \u2014 today was HUGE,\u201d his mother, Sonora Smith, said. \u201cHe walked farther than he has in five months and for the first time without someone holding onto him the entire time. He completely exhausted himself, but he was determined to do it on his own.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a goal Ryen made for himself, and he wasn\u2019t wavering. <\/p>\n
\u201cMom, I\u2019m not going to graduation if I have to use my chair,\u201d he told his mother.<\/p>\n
Smith said nearly everyone was in tears as Ryen walked across the gym.<\/p>\n
Defying the odds<\/p>\n
Doctors gave Ryen a 10 percent chance to live after the Christmas Day shooting. A bullet struck the front of his head and penetrated his brain.<\/p>\n
The accident happened as Ryen leaned down to put on his shoes while his friend was checking the safety of a gun pointed toward the ground. The gun accidentally fired.<\/p>\n
Ryen spent 64 days in the hospital. No one knew if he\u2019d ever even wake up, but milestone by milestone he smiled, talked and started walking again.<\/p>\n
\u201cI truly believe this is God\u2019s hand on his life,\u201d Smith said. \u201cWatching him fight back has been heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time, and I\u2019m holding onto faith every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Recovery continues<\/p>\n
The graduation came 10 days after Ryen underwent a cranioplasty on May 11.<\/p>\n
Ryen is now living at home in a house that his community, including teammates, repainted for him. He will continue therapy through the summer and then receive therapy at school.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis goal is walking without any assistive devices,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n
Coach Matthus Lopez stood by to walk with Ryen on the way into the gym and back to his seat. Ryen was hugged by his teachers and given his certificate by Marvis Pettis, the Groesbeck Middle School counselor.<\/p>\n
Smith said watching her son refuse to give up has been inspiring.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am so unbelievably proud of his strength, determination, and heart,\u201d she said. \u201cWatching him refuse to give up has been one of the most inspiring things I\u2019ve ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Relearning everything<\/p>\n
The bullet forced Ryen to start over. He is relearning everything \u2014 walking, eating, speaking.<\/p>\n
Ryen first squeezed his mom\u2019s hands after waking up. The first word he spoke was \u201cSuperman,\u201d written on a bracelet given to him by his friend\u2019s father. The next day, he said \u201cmom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Within weeks, Ryen\u2019s personality began shining through. He started laughing and joking like before.<\/p>\n
The boys still video chat an<\/p>\n
d laugh together.<\/p>\n
\u201cRyen says \u2018I got shot, but it was an accident. It\u2019s okay, we\u2019re still friends,\u2019\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 KWTX. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GROESBECK, Texas (KWTX) – Ryen Harris walked across the gym floor to cheers from classmates and teachers as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305779,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[110794,110797,110792,110795,110796,110800,110793,110798,110802,110789,110791,110803,110805,110799,110790,110804,27,29,28,110801],"class_list":["post-305778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-14-year-old-ryen-harris-walked-at-graduation-with-arm-crutch","tag-64-days-in-hospital-after-gunshot-to-head","tag-accidental-gunshot-wound-survivor-graduation","tag-brain-surgery-10-days-before-graduation-may-11-cranioplasty","tag-christmas-day-accidental-shooting-gun-safety-incident","tag-community-repainted-house-for-groesbeck-teen","tag-cranioplasty-recovery-texas-teen","tag-doctors-gave-10-percent-chance-to-live","tag-groesbeck-isd-middle-school-graduation-ceremony","tag-groesbeck-middle-school-graduation-brain-surgery","tag-groesbeck-texas-student-recovery-gunshot-wound","tag-gun-safety-awareness-accidental-discharge","tag-limestone-county-texas-news","tag-relearning-to-walk-eat-speak-after-traumatic-brain-injury","tag-ryen-harris-graduation-after-brain-surgery","tag-student-perseverance-recovery-story","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-therapy-through-summer-continued-recovery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}