Joy as ‘tough little cookie’ wakes up

THE mother of an 11-year-old who was shot in the face says her daughter is one “tough little cookie”.

Phoenix Newitt was travelling in a car in Deloraine last Tuesday when a bullet slammed into the window.

Flying bullet fragments became lodged in her head and neck and travelled to her heart, placing the child in a perilous position.

Transported to Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital the night of the shooting, Phoenix lay in a coma for the next five days.

Her mother, Sarah Newitt, recalled the moment her daughter woke from the coma on Sunday.

“I got a call [from the nurses] and thought ‘oh no’. But they said, ‘Phoenix has removed her tubing and she’s asking for you’,” she said.

“I just ran up in my jammies, I had to get to Phoenix.

“It was the best news I’ve ever heard. I’ve never been so excited for Phoenix to be awake so early, especially on a Sunday morning.”

There will be good days and bad ones, such as yesterday when Phoenix had a seizure, which was “pretty hard to witness”.

“Her body’s weak, she’s not really speaking at all, she’s really not in a good way today. But there’s going to be good days ... this is just a bad day and we’re going to overcome it,” Ms Newitt said.

The long road ahead includes further surgery along with physical rehabilitation and any psychological scars.

“I haven’t explained to her why she’s here yet. I’m kind of waiting for her to ask but I’m going to be fully honest with her because that’s the type of relationship we have,” she said.

“She hasn’t mentioned it and I don’t want to overload her with unnecessary information … she’s got a lot to process.”

While Phoenix has muscle and nerve damage to the right side of her face, a CAT scan revealed she didn’t suffer a stroke, which was a high risk.

In coming days she will have surgery on her skull after a craniectomy, which doctors

I just ran up in my jammies, I had to get to Phoenix ... it was the best news I’ve ever heard

performed last week to relieve pressure on her brain.

Ms Newitt said she would stay in Melbourne until Phoenix could come home.

“For Phoenix, I’m holding up strong. I don’t want to show her any negative emotion or sadness but when I go to my room of a night it’s quite overwhelming and hard to deal with,” she said.

Nathan Richard Campbell, 25, of Deloraine, has been charged with grievous bodily harm. Police allege he fired a small-calibre rifle at the car Phoenix was in after an altercation about an hour earlier at the Deloraine Woolworths.