LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Returning to the Pleasure Ridge Park High School soccer team was not the driving motivation for Justin Caudell after a bullet tore through his abdomen three days before last Christmas.
Survival was.
Praying that help arrived quickly to stop the profuse internal bleeding. Fighting through nearly three hours of emergency surgery, the beginning of a two-month stay at University of Louisville Hospital.
Making it through day one. Then day two. Then day three.
"When they brought him around to the ambulance, he was face forward, lying down, shoes off, and I didn't see him respond," Caudell's mother, Terra, said about that December night when the near-tragedy unfolded in the Chickasaw neighborhood, close to the intersection of Cecil and Greenwood avenues.
No one was in custody as of Wednesday night.
"I didn't see him respond. He didn't respond," Terra Caudell said. "I said, 'Justin, you've got to answer me. JUSTIN! I was crying."
Survival. Followed by recovery. Slow, persistent recovery. Rehabilitation. Followed by more rehabilitation. There were no shortcuts.
Learning what he could eat. Being able to walk without searing leg pain. Feeling safe going back outside into the neighborhood or riding a bus or encountering strangers. Getting back into the classroom routine.
"As a mother, when you see your son go through what Justin went through, you don't know what is going to happen," Terra Caudell said.
'We knew he would come back'
What happened Tuesday night at PRP was another inspiring chapter in the comeback story of the year in local high school sports.
Caudell, 17, started at left forward for the Panthers 279 days after his teammates wondered if they would talk to him again. The senior contributed to PRP's 4-0 victory over visiting Gallatin County on Senior Night, another milestone performance that drew hugs from teammates and tears from friends in the crowd who know Caudell's story: the prayers, the vigils, the healing, the pulling together, the ultimate triumph.
"Let's be honest: We weren't sure he was going to survive," said Tom Wampler, boys soccer coach at PRP.
"With what Justin's been through, it's a miracle that he's even walking," added Thierry Abati, one of his teammates.
Justin Caudell started at left forward for the Panthers 279 days after his teammates wondered if they would talk to him again. Sept. 27, 2022. (WDRB Photo)
The Tuesday night scorecard will credit Caudell with launching a shot toward the Gallatin County net but not a goal. It was his sixth game back from multiple surgeries and a colostomy, all the result of another random shooting that remains unsolved without any suspects.
"You never think something like that is going to happen to you," Justin Caudell said. "For a person who was born to play sports, you can't imagine that being taken away from you."
All he planned to do on that December night was attend a high school basketball game with a friend. Terra Caudell said her son rarely went out but regularly called his mother with his location. On this night, he and a friend rode a TARC bus to PRP and back to the stop at Greenwood and Cecil. A transfer and final bus ride was required to get closer to his home on 20th Street.
Around 9:30 p.m., Caudell and his mother said that Justin tried to walk into a liquor store on Greenwood, a half-block from the bus stop, to get exact change for the final $1.75 TARC fare. He was ordered out because he was underage.
When he stepped back outside, a vehicle drove past. Then there were shots. Lots of shots.
"It was just random, so random," Caudell said. "I didn't even see the window go down. It was very dark, and I had a hood on. That's why my vision was kind of bad.
"I couldn't believe it when I was on the ground (after being hit). It hurt a lot, but your adrenaline is pumping. So it's a weird feeling."
Caudell said he was told later that nine shots were fired. He was hit by one, which entered his buttocks and ricocheted through his abdomen and intestines, clipping an artery. His first reaction was to call his mother.
Terra Caudell was home from her job as a chef but had let her mother use her vehicle. She expected a call from Justin. Just not this call.
PRP soccer player Justin Caudell's journey from tragedy to triumph
Justin Caudell started at left forward for the Panthers 279 days after his teammates wondered if they would talk to him again. Sept. 27, 2022. (WDRB Photo)
"Justin said, 'Mom, I've been shot,'" Terra Caudell said. "I said, 'What do you mean you've been shot? Quit playing. C'mon, quit joking around.'"
Justin persisted. He told his mother he had run into an alley and then between two houses to avoid being shot again. Terra Caudell called 911 and alerted the police. The family home is several miles away. By the time she arrived, Justin was being wheeled into an ambulance for the trip to University Hospital.
"I didn't know what was going to happen, because my son couldn't speak to me," Terra Caudell said. "You have all kinds of thoughts."
"We were told that he might die or never walk again," said Dylan Hash, the PRP goalie. "Everybody loves Justin, so it upset us. But we knew he would come back."
Come back Justin Caudell has. He lost more than 20 pounds from his narrow, 5-feet-11-inch, 140-pound body. Additional surgeries on his colon required a colostomy and severe adjustments to his diet.
His mother said surgeons could not remove every bullet fragment. Justin said he continues to suffer nerve pain, creating a persistent, annoying tingle down his left leg. Soccer became a blessing. The tingle was easier to ignore when Caudell ran.
The loving response from the Caudell's church family at West Chestnut Stree Baptist Church as well as the PRP soccer team allowed Terra Caudell to take two months off from her job as a chef at Lynn Family Stadium and the KFC Yum! Center to care for her son.
"I told Justin and Terra we were going to love on them for as long as it took," Wampler said. "We're a family here, and that's what a family does."
What a family also does is celebrate. And celebrate is what the Panthers' soccer team has done since Caudell returned to the team in August. Wampler started coaching Caudell in the eighth grade. He was expected to be one of the team's key contributors this season. Wampler said that he is determined to get Caudell an opportunity to play in college.
Terra Caudell said her son rarely went out but regularly called his mother with his location. That December night was different. Sept. 27, 2022. (WDRB Photo)
Caudell has earned more playing time every game, highlighted by his return to the starting lineup Tuesday. The Panthers will finish regular-season competition Thursday night at Spencer County before beginning district tournament play next week.
"(Playing again) was actually impossible," Terra Caudell said. "I didn't think this was ever going to happen.
"This is a like a glorious moment, because they did talk about, at one time, that if he was going to keep having this leg pain, they might have to amputate."
Justin Caudell's recovery is ongoing. He said he has avoided bus rides since that December night. He was once reluctant to do an interview because he wondered if would become a target again.
But with the love of his teammates, Caudell said he understood what his story can become.
"I feel like I can be an inspiration," he said.
In the Pleasure Ridge Park and soccer communities, Justin Caudell already is that.
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