On Memorial Day 2021, Denise Wieck received a life-altering call, prompting a rush to the hospital. Her 17-year-old son, Guy, was critically injured when a “ghost gun” shot him in the right eye. These firearms, assembled from online parts without serial numbers, are untraceable and contributed to this tragic incident.
“They did not anticipate him living,” said Wieck, an administrative specialist in Emergency Medicine. Surgeons had to remove half of Guy’s temporal lobe and the right side of his skull to accommodate swelling. When Wieck first saw him, he was attached to numerous tubes, making the scene unforgettable.
The friend who accidentally fired the weapon thought it was unloaded. “He thought the chamber was empty, and it wasn’t,” Wieck explained. Bone and bullet fragments remain in Guy’s brain. The initial 72 hours were critical, with Wieck staying alert at night to prevent tube dislodgement.
Hospital teams provided intensive care, guiding Guy through recovery milestones. “After eight days, he was up and walking with help,” Wieck noted. “On the ninth day, he walked without a walker.”
Recovery Isn’t Linear
Guy’s recovery was complicated by ensuing seizures. After an October cranioplasty, he experienced his first seizure, and a severe episode on New Year’s Eve almost took his life again. Adjustments to anti-seizure medications were frequent as an MRI was impossible due to metal fragments.
Ultimately, specialists implanted a vagus nerve stimulator (VNS). “It’s been seriously amazing how much that has helped,” Wieck said. Guy learned to recognize pre-seizure auras and activate the VNS to halt them. He has been seizure-free for two years, regained his license, and bought a 1993 Oldsmobile 98 Regency.
“Only 2% of people with his injury survive, but he’s here and doing amazing,” Wieck said, despite ongoing medical challenges.
From Mom to Prevention Advocate
Determined to transform her trauma into advocacy, Wieck co-founded LIFE (Lock It for Everyone) with Guy, promoting gun safety education. “We believe in the right to have a firearm but also in being educated and capable,” she stated.
She collaborates with organizations like Moms Demand Action and End Gun Violence Michigan, speaking at events to raise awareness. “I’m the mouth of the program, and he is the face,” Wieck commented.
Wieck and Guy contribute to U-M research, including the Massey TBI Lived Experience Advisory Council. “I find my advocacy work rewarding,” she said, despite ongoing firearm deaths. Wieck’s mission is to prevent gun violence before it affects more families.
“I thought I would never be affected by gun violence,” she reflected. “But you never know when you are going to be. If you start working to prevent it now, it won’t happen to you.”
Wieck believes her advocacy honors her son’s story, ensuring it makes a difference. “Guy believes he lived to help people and to make that difference,” she concluded.
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