Toddler shot in 2020 drive-by shooting recovering after brain surgery to ease seizures

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The grandmother of a 23-month-old girl who underwent brain surgery Tuesday 18 months after she was shot in the head in a drive-by shooting in west Louisville hopes the procedure improves her quality of life.

Ocean Robertson was just 5 months old in December 2020 when someone opened fire while she was in a car with her mother near the intersection of West Oak and Dr. W. J. Hodge streets in the California neighborhood.

Her mother, Fa'Quansa Ancrum, 30, died in the shooting, but Ocean survived. Since then Ocean has dealt with numerous medical issues, including severe seizures that have been happening 10 to 20 times a day.

Now Ocean's grandmother, Sherry Ancrum, is caring for her.

"It turned my life completely around," Ancrum said. "I have to give Ocean the care that she needs."

It has been a long journey so far, and it's still a long road ahead.

Ocean has now had four surgical procedures since the shooting. The latest surgery, on May 10 at Norton Children's Hospital, took 12 hours. Now Ancrum hopes the surgery puts an end to the seizures.

"She had just learned how to pull herself up in a sit-up position, something they kept telling me she wasn't going to do," Ancrum said.

"Since the surgery, I was told -- 100 percent guaranteed -- she would lose the movement of her left side," Ancrum said.

Despite that, Ancrum remains optimistic.

"Whatever I get I'm happy, you know? If she still has them [seizures], I'm still happy as long as I got her," Ancrum said.

There were 151 homicides in Louisville in 2020, and according to LMPD's homicide dashboard, there have been 59 so far this year. Ocean is the youngest person to survive a shooting in the area.

Ancrum says gun violence will continue unless laws are changed.

"As long as they got a permit they could pack a gun, so that means you can walk in a gun store and you have a gun on you anybody could snatch that off of you and stuff.

"It's not gonna stop. It's not, because of the things y'all allowing them to do, so gun violence is not gonna stop."

As long as the gun violence continues, Ancrum and her family will have only memories of loved ones whose lives were cut short by violence.

"We have memory days," Ancrum said, "where we'll just sit down and one of them start asking me questions. I'll be like, 'c'mon y'all, here's a memory day. So we'll sit down, and once again I'll read the obituary over and over to them and answer anything and stuff like that."

Police are still looking for the shooter. If you have any information about the shooting, call LMPD's crime tip line at 574-LMPD. Tips can also be submitted online here.

A GoFundMe account has been set up to help with Ocean's expenses. To make a donation, click here.

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