When he went to work Saturday night, Geoffrey Summers had begun what he thought would be his last month working as a bouncer.
The 31-year-old was going to work at Alibi Ultra Lounge until New Year’s Eve and then quit. He had just started another job at Lexus South Pointe. He was in school to become a journeyman mechanic.
By early Sunday morning, Summers was fighting to stay alive.
“He lost all his blood,” his mother Jodi-Anne Anderson said.
Anderson said Summers and fellow bouncers at Alibi were throwing out a group of aggressive patrons. One person went to his car and ran back shooting a gun, she said. One shot struck Summers in one arm. The bullet went through his upper torso and into his other arm. It severed a major artery.
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Despite all this, Anderson says her son was lucky.
“There was a nurse that works at the bar that was screamed at. She went over and started [helping Summers]. And then there was a doctor that was there with a whole bunch of his friends. He was the designated driver.”
The pair managed to keep Summers from bleeding to death right there.
The bouncer’s size also helped. He is 6’9″ tall and weighs more than 300 pounds. The doctor told Anderson if her son was an average height, the bullet would have gone through his throat.
Summers was rushed to hospital and endured nine hours of surgery.
He remains in the intensive care unit at the Royal Alexandra Hospital but is improving. His breathing tube has been removed. As some of the drugs began to wear off, he became more coherent and started talking more to his mother.
“He wanted to know what had happened. He remembers the bullet hitting him. But other than that, he doesn’t remember anything else,” Anderson said.
Her son still has a long way to go. The bullet has yet to be removed. Another surgery was expected on Summers’ arm Thursday. He still has little feeling in that arm and doctors say if feeling returns, it could take months or years of rehab.
Doctors are making sure Summers keeps moving. He’s now taking 15 steps at a time in his hospital room. Anderson says she’s amazed by how much effort such a seemingly small task takes.
As difficult as the road ahead is, just being able to speak to her son makes Anderson feel better.
“Today’s a good day. I’m not bawling every five seconds. I’m not leaning over, trying to climb into bed with him to hug him like moms do when their kids are sick. But it’s still really, really emotional.”
Anderson says as she sits by her son’s bed, she’s also now thinking more about what put him there and what helped save him.
“I never thought it would happen to me. So I guess I’m now going to become an advocate [against] gun violence.”
She also hopes her son’s case gets people thinking more about giving blood.
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“Anybody in this city who could give blood, give blood. My son used 19 units, they’re going to need it. The biggest thing for me is to get that back.”
Summers also asked his mom about the shooter and if police have caught him. Anderson doesn’t want to talk to her son about that.
Police continue to investigate. No arrests have been made.