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Youngest sniper victim looks forward to resuming life'A lot of basketball and hanging out with my friends'
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The youngest victim in a string of sniper shootings that terrorized the Washington area said Friday that he was feeling great and "looking forward to picking up my life where it left off." "I'm not in any pain right now. I feel normal, I just can't lift heavy things like I did before," 13-year-old Iran Brown told reporters at Children's National Medical Center. Doctors there treated him for more than a month after he was shot October 7 outside his school. He was released from the hospital November 11. During his stay, doctors removed his spleen, and parts of his stomach and pancreas. One of his lungs and his intestinal tract were also damaged. Brown said he had to take it easy sometimes but was getting stronger every day. "I feel great and am looking forward to picking up my life where I left off. That includes a lot of basketball and hanging out with my friends," Brown said. He said he was able to shoot baskets, but not as many as he used to. 'Right things done'Dr. Martin Eichelberger, the surgeon who treated the boy, said he was recovering well and joked that in a few years he could be the top pick in the National Basketball Association draft. "His injuries were extraordinarily severe, they were life-threatening, but he responded because of the youth of his system, I think, and because of the fact that he had the right things done right from the beginning," he said. Eichelberger said Brown would have to take antibiotics for a few years because the removal of his spleen has left him vulnerable to infections. He said Brown was taking no other medications and that his other organs were healing nicely. He credited Brown's positive attitude for the speed of his recovery. The boy's mother, Lisa Brown, thanked the community for their prayers and good wishes and for giving her family privacy so that they can focus on caring for her son. She said the family would not be doing any more interviews. "We are so tired," Lisa Brown said. "It hasn't been because we're trying to be secretive or anything like that. We're tired. This has been a very, very overwhelming and tiring experience. My son is 13. He just wants to get back to a normal life." She said she did not know when her son would be able to go back to school. Brown was introduced to the news media on Thursday when he accompanied first lady Laura Bush through the hospital. Aunt a nurseBrown was shot as he walked into Benjamin Tasker Middle School in Bowie, Maryland. His aunt, a nurse who had just dropped him off in front of the school, saw him collapse and took him to a nearby medical facility for treatment before he was airlifted to the Washington hospital. Her quick actions were credited in part for saving her nephew's life. The string of sniper shootings terrorized the Washington area, leaving 10 dead and three wounded. (Special report) On Thursday, a judge in Virginia set an October 14, 2003, date for the trial of John Allen Muhammad, 41, one of two suspects in the sniper shootings, who faces capital murder charges in the slaying of Dean Harold Meyers at a gas station in Manassas, Virginia. The judge also denied a request from broadcasters to televise the proceedings, saying such coverage could compromise Muhammad's right to a fair trial. (Full story) Law enforcement officials have accused Muhammad and John Lee Malvo, 17, in the series of sniper shootings. The two men also have been linked to slayings in Louisiana, Alabama and Georgia. Police across the United States are reviewing unsolved crimes in areas through which Muhammad and Malvo are known to have traveled. Malvo is expected to face trial in Fairfax County, Virginia in the killing of FBI analyst Linda Franklin outside a Home Depot store.
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