‘God blessed my heart’: 9-year-old shot in Gastonia home gets new eye

GASTONIA, N.C. — A 9-year-old boy from Gastonia who was shot while watching TV in his home back in August got a big Christmas surprise on Thursday.

JD Jackson’s eye was pierced by the bullet when it flew into his house. Doctors say the bullet miraculously stopped right behind his eye.

For months, he was left with the wound and only one eye, and he told his mother that he wished his eye would grow back for Christmas.

On Thursday, it was all smiles as Jackson tried on his new tailor-made prosthetic eye for the first time.

“God blessed my heart,” Jackson told Channel 9′s Ken Lemon.

Jackson and his mother haven’t been back home since the shooting, adding even more uncertainty to the boy’s past few months.

But Jackson’s new eye wasn’t the only Christmas surprise. On Thursday, Channel 9 learned that the family is getting a new home right before Christmas.

Jackson says he feels like a normal 9-year-old again, and he’s ready to play basketball.

“I feel like I’m still Jadeveon, I’m still here,” he told Channel 9.

The family says they still want the shooter to be held accountable, but that was secondary on Thursday. They said they have reclaimed one thing that the shooter couldn’t take away.

“When I look at him and he is still here and he is playing and he is active and he is laughing and smiling, it makes it all OK,” said Mary Jackson, JD’s mother.

“Even if it’s just for that moment.”

(WATCH BELOW: Mother says 9-year-old asked ‘Am I going to die?’ after being shot)

Mother says 9-year-old asked ‘Am I going to die?’ after being shot

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