DETROIT – Donovan Lyles could have given up. The now 7-year-old boy was sitting his living room two years ago when a bullet shattered the room's window and hit him in the face, robbing him of his left eye.
Rushed to Children's Hospital with critical injuries, his life hung in the balance. The next day, his mom says, he was up and playing in the hospital gym.
That's Donovan, the infectious second-grader at Thurgood Marshall School in Detroit. He's constant motion, endlessly friendly, and a good student. Every day he wore an eye patch to school, a reminder of the wound from that terrible night.
Last year, a chance encounter with Local 4's Hank Winchester sparked a friendship -- and a series of helping actions for a boy who'd endured much.
Watch the story above to see Winchester's warm relationship with Donovan, and a touching conclusion that leaves many in tears.