LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Sherry Ancrum says it’s no contest when talking about the most difficult day of the year since her daughter Molly was shot and killed in Louisville in December of 2020.
“Thanksgiving is the hardest,” she said from her Lexington home on Wednesday.
It’s the hardest because in 2020, Molly had COVID-19 during thanksgiving, so Sherry made her sit far away from everyone else who was seated at the table. It was the right thing to do.
“I know I can’t beat myself up over that,” she says, but it’s still difficult, because nine days later Molly was killed. And Molly’s 5-month-old daughter, Ocean, was badly injured after taking a bullet to the head.
So, Sherry almost immediately became a full-time parent again to Molly’s five children. She calls them, “Molly’s Angels.”
“I’m doing what I can and what I know that Molly wanted for her kids,” Sherry said, while playing with now 2-year-old Ocean on the floor of their home.
Ocean is the youngest person on record to have survived a gunshot wound, but she has not fully recovered. Ocean still requires a feeding tube, can’t yet stand up, hasn’t yet spoken a word, and her vision is severely damaged, likely from the many surgeries she endured in order to alleviate the dangerous seizures she was having.
“She’s doing good but she’s not doing good. I don’t know how to really put it,” Sherry explained. “She still has a long way to go and now that she’s partially blind in both eyes, that’s another thing we’ve got to work with now. How will we communicate with her,” she continued.
Doctors can’t yet pin down any kind of legitimate long-term prognosis for Ocean. She could get much better over time, or she could stagnate.
“Maybe in another couple of years she’s actually going to be standing up. And as time goes on, she’s going to walk. I know she is,” Sherry said.
Whether she does or not, Ocean has already defied the odds by celebrating another birthday very recently.
“Never did expect none of this, but she’s giving it all to me,” Sherry said.
