With each movement of his head or light in his eyes, Aaron Horner makes progress — and gives his family and friends reason to hope as the new year soon begins.

“I see miracles manifesting themselves,” said Alan Horner, Aaron’s father. “When I found him, I didn’t believe he would live long enough for the EMTs to come.”

On Sept. 16, Alan found 12-year-old Aaron with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head at the family’s home in Powell.

“He made it down to Denver, then he had two strokes, and they told us he would be a vegetable for the rest of his life — and he blew by that,” Alan said. “Then he got meningitis with a 106.3 degree fever, and he blew by that.”

Aaron has endured other medical complications, but he continues to make more progress than doctors thought possible.

“Just today, he moved his right leg on command for the first time,” Alan said on Dec. 3. 

Alan recently heard one of the neurology doctors say under his breath to a colleague, “We are in unchartered territory with this boy.”

“There is no other way to describe where Aaron is at today from where he was when I found him, other than divine intervention,” Alan said.

The family praises God on good days and bad days, he said.

Alan said he and his wife, Yarti, cannot express how grateful they are for the support from the Powell community and beyond.

“Yarti and I are speechless at the thoughts and love and prayers that are coming our way from the community,” Alan said. “I have people stopping me in the street to pray. I had a fellow from the police department call me on another matter and then ask me at the end if he could pray with me ... 

“I just want to thank the people of Powell. I have no words ... they lift us up more than I can say,” he said.

Alan and Yarti read every online post, note and card, sometimes multiple times, he said.

“I want the community to know that the comments we get, the posts we get, are sometimes all that keeps us sane,” Alan said. “We thrive on that love.”

Alan described Aaron as a brilliant boy. Going into the sixth-grade this fall, he was at the top of his class. He was writing different books in his head, and carried on intelligent conversations with college students, Alan said.

“He had an incredible imagination,” Alan said. “We keep praying that’s what God is going to give us back.”

Last week, medical staff at the Children’s Hospital Colorado told the Horners they will discharge Aaron on Jan. 21.

“The hospital feels that Aaron can be better served with out-patient care,” Alan wrote in a Facebook post Tuesday. “We are not so sure that professional level of brain injury care is available in Park County.”

The family has been looking at specialized care centers, and Aaron may be admitted to a center in Omaha, Neb., called QLI (Quality Living, Inc.).

“He would be the youngest patient that they had ever admitted,” Alan wrote. “QLI is an aggressive, intense facility dedicated to brain and spinal cord injury cases. They have an outstanding reputation.”

He asked for prayers that Aaron could be admitted into the program.

In an online update Tuesday, Alan wrote that Aaron had a great day in physical and speech therapy. During his physical therapy sessions, he has stood with support.

He also reacts to his family members, especially his sister, Asia.

“The biggest reaction that we get out of Aaron is when he hears his sister’s voice,” he said. “The first time he smiled was when he heard Asia’s voice on the phone. The first time he tried to talk was when Asia was talking to him.”

The family has described the days like a roller coaster, with ups and downs.

Some days are especially long and difficult, and it’s been particularly hard on Yarti, Alan said.

“She was at his bedside 24-7 for two months, until the hospital made her stay at the Ronald McDonald (house),” Alan said.

Yarti hasn’t returned home to Powell since Aaron was flown to the Colorado Children’s Hospital. The family, including sister Asia, brother Wyatt and grandmother Rahmah, are hoping to be together in Colorado for Christmas.

Alan travels between Powell and Denver as often as he can.

“We have a business to run ... the bills keep coming in,” he said. “Life goes on. I have to pay for gas, I have to pay for food.”

As of Dec. 1, Aaron’s medical bills had surpassed $1.1 million. “If it wasn’t for Medicaid, we wouldn’t know where to turn,” Alan said.

To help the Horner family with other expenses, an account has been set up at Big Horn Federal. Donations also can be taken to the Powell Church of Christ, and Pastor Gerry Parker will make sure they go to Aaron and his family.

A November fundraiser in Powell raised roughly $7,500 for the family, Parker said. An online fundraising effort on the website GoFundMe (available at www.gofundme.com/f3o0u0) has raised $4,415 as of Wednesday. 

“The response has been amazing,” Parker said.

The Shriners have helped the family “immensely,” Alan said.

So many residents and church congregations have shown their love, concern and support, Parker said.

“We have a wonderful community,” he said.

Parker said people in Powell and around the world have been praying for Aaron’s recovery.

Alan said the prayers are working.

“God definitely has a plan for my Aaron,” he said. “There is no other way to describe it.”

Aaron Horner faces months of treatment and rehabilitation. To help the family with expenses, an account has been set up at Big Horn Federal. You also can make donations online at www.gofundme.com/f3o0u0.