LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — It’s a scary thing when you put a child to sleep, unsure if that child will survive the night. Sherri Ancrum has had to endure 1,095 of those nights. It’s been three years since Sherri’s daughter, Molly, was shot and killed in a car in Louisville. Sherri’s granddaughter, Ocean Robertson, was hit in the head with one of the 23 bullets police say were fired into that vehicle.
“She wasn’t even supposed to make it to one. Now she’s three,” Ancrum said from her Lexington home, where she provides around-the-clock care for Ocean.
Ocean was five months old when she took that bullet. Several surgeries have ensued, and there will be more. Her vision remains badly impaired. Her motor skills are all but limited to scooting around the floor. Ocean can’t speak and still requires a feeding tube. Doctors remain unsure of her long-term prognosis. Sherri, however, is choosing to look at the bright side.
Even with the start of school more than two years away, she’s already planning for a home-schooling arrangement.
“She’ll be dressed and sitting up with her backpack,” Sherri explained. “She can’t go to school, so school (will) come to her,” she continued.
Sherri not only took on the role of Ocean’s caregiver, but Molly’s four other kids live here too because Sherri knows what her daughter would’ve wanted. This time of day is quiet time before the older four come home from school.
“The two older ones are starting to understand that mom is gone for real now because they were so young (when the shooting happened)," she said.
The shooter still hasn’t been identified, but Sherri says she gets occasional updates from Louisville Metro Police. She also gets routine visits from the officer who performed potentially life-saving CPR on Ocean immediately after the shooting. He will often meet Sherri and Ocean in Louisville when they come for follow-up medical visits.
None of this is easy on Sherri, who, based on her age, should enjoy her retirement years and the benefits of having an “empty nest” at home. But here she is on the floor playing with Ocean, making sure she’s getting her hands on books and doing everything else that goes along with raising a 3-year-old who is facing incredible physical and mental challenges.
“Every morning when I hear her voice, I say, ‘Thank you, God,’” she said.
It’s now been 1,095 of those mornings.
