Just three months ago, 10 year old Christopher Rodriguez, was taking his first music lesson in Oakland.
"I remember I was playing the piano and I heard a bang and I fell back on the bench," said Rodriguez.
Monday night the Oakland's Community of Musicians held another fundraiser for him at Yoshi's in Jack London Square.
A 40 caliber bullet severed his spinal chord, and it's still wedged in his body.
"At first my stomach started vibrating and then it started to burn. I remember I was yelling for help," said Rodriguez.
And he still screams for help every morning, because of the excruciating pain.
"When I'm lying in bed it gets worse," said Rodriguez.
From a variety of medicines, Christopher takes 20 doses a day to deal with it.
Christopher has what's called a partial spinal chord injury, meaning some of the nerves are still attached.
Christopher's doctor, Dr. Jacob Neufeld, operated on him at children's hospital.
"When you still have some of those motor nerves intact, you can still feel. But the sensations don't make sense to the body," said Dr. Neufeld.
And it sends a message of pain back to Christopher's brain.
Rodriguez says he's still in pain all of the time.
It's something his doctors say Chris may have to learn to live with. His goal is to make it back to Crocker Highlands Elementary School in May. Christopher was going through some obvious pain during the interview, and when asked about the man who fired the bullet that severed his spinal chord, he had this to say.
"It was an accident, so I guess I forgive him," said Rodriguez.
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