A Brazilian student continued to party for four days without realising he had been shot in the head, leaving a bullet lodged in his brain.
Mateus Facio, 21, thought he had been hit in the head by someone throwing a stone while he was partying on New Year’s Eve in Rio de Janeiro and didn’t think it was major after the bleeding stopped quickly.
According to Mail Online, Facio spent the following four days partying with friends and swimming in the ocean without knowing he had been shot.
He finally sought medical help because his right arm was spasming. After running a CT scan, medics were shocked to find a bullet lodged in Facio’s brain.
Facio underwent a two-hour life-saving operation and spent two days in intensive care, with the university student now recovering at his home in Juiz de Fora, southern Brazil.
Neurosurgeon Flavio Falcometa said after operating on the student: ‘Part of the bullet penetrated his brain which caused compression in that area and led to his arm’s involuntary movements.
‘If it had ended up a few millimetres from where it did, it could have caused much more serious damage and left his arm or one side of his body paralysed.
‘It was very risky for the patient but we believe that in 20 to 30 days he will be able to continue with his normal life.’
Police were last night analysing the bullet removed from his head as they begun an investigation into who fired the shot that could have had devastating consequences for Facio.
He told the remarkable story of his survival and ongoing recovery to Brazilian TV show Jornal Nacional.
He recalled: ‘I thought it was a stone, something like that. It was like the sound of an explosion, when a bomb goes off, but inside my head.
‘The bleeding stopped, we left, I took a shower and went out partying.’