{"id":20867,"date":"2025-03-11T14:43:42","date_gmt":"2025-03-11T18:43:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/?p=20867"},"modified":"2025-03-18T15:41:43","modified_gmt":"2025-03-18T19:41:43","slug":"family-praises-god-after-son-survives-school-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2025\/03\/family-praises-god-after-son-survives-school-shooting.html","title":{"rendered":"Family Praises God After Son Survives Shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
WMTV15<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A family is praising God three months after a school shooter nearly took the life of their 14-year-old son. River Clardy was a Freshman at Abundant Life Christian School in Wisconsin when a 15-year-old student came armed to the school on December 16, 2024. The student killed a teacher and student, as well as injuring several others, including River. River\u2019s mother, Christina Clardy, was a first year teacher at the school. \u201cJust protecting my kids in my class that was the first thing I thought of,\u201d she told a local station<\/a>. She helped bring her students to safety at a church across from the school parking lot.<\/p>\n

Christina then began to wonder about her own three children who attended the school. \u201cI pretty quickly saw my two daughters and they were questioning me about where their brother was. I had not seen him, but I knew they were also still clearing out the school. It became pretty clear that some people were still missing… and one of my teaching team informed the police that my son was one of those people,\u201d she said. When it was learned that River was one of the students who had been hurt, she and her daughters were taken to American Family Children\u2019s Hospital to see him. River\u2019s father, Brett, rushed to the hospital from Chicago. \u201cI didn\u2019t know anything other than he was at the hospital, that\u2019s all I knew. I wasn\u2019t sure of his condition, his state, his level of injuries. I was just driving.\u201d<\/p>\n

River had been shot multiple times, including three times in the neck. One bullet had even hit his carotid artery. \u201cRiver was losing a lot of blood from injuries to his neck, to his throat, to his hip to his hand. His skin color was very pale. His heart rate was very high. Blood pressure was very low. All the clinical signs that he was very close to dying,\u201d said Dr. Adam Brinkman, the medical director of pediatric trauma care.<\/p>\n

Brett\u2019s family prayed through it all, saying that his injuries were so extensive that he was hardly recognizable. The family shared how tirelessly doctors worked to save his life. \u201cAs his injuries resolved and he didn\u2019t need any more surgeries, then it was time to allow him to wake up and see who River was. I stopped in the doorway, and he turned towards me. And I said, \u2018River!\u2019 And River said, \u2018Good morning!\u2019 Hearing his voice and seeing his eyes and realizing everything that he had just gone through, and a week later he\u2019s saying good morning to me. There was no better feeling. It was incredible,\u201d said Dr. Brinkman.<\/p>\n

River would spend 46 days in the hospital. He had to relearn how to eat, walk, and many other self-care activities he had been able to do independently before. \u201cWe believe that God is a huge part of his healing through natural means like through the body healing itself and through some things that you know aren\u2019t explainable to us. But he is, he\u2019s done better than he should have,\u201d said Christina. The incident has brought the family closer, as they learned to cherish the time they have together. \u201cIt\u2019s important to give thanks for the good in our lives. And to recognize, you know, the good around us, like in the people in our community,\u201d said Christina. \u201cWhen our circumstances aren\u2019t good, those things, those are things that are good…. I do have moments where I\u2019m like, I can\u2019t believe he\u2019s alive, you know? I\u2019m just really grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A family is praising God three months after a school shooter nearly took the life of their 14-year-old son. River Clardy was a Freshman at Abundant Life Christian School in Wisconsin when a 15-year-old student came armed to the school on December 16, 2024. The student killed a teacher and student, as well as injuring…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":20870,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiring-messages"],"yoast_head":"\nFamily Praises God After Son Survives Shooting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After a school shooting nearly took his life, River Clardy\u2019s family is praising God for his miraculous recovery.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2025\/03\/family-praises-god-after-son-survives-school-shooting.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Family Praises God After Son Survives Shooting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After a school shooting nearly took his life, River Clardy\u2019s family is praising God for his miraculous recovery.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2025\/03\/family-praises-god-after-son-survives-school-shooting.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Inspiration Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-11T18:43:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-18T19:41:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2025\/03\/River-Clardy_credit-WMTV15.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cecilia Buchanan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Family Praises God After Son Survives Shooting","description":"After a school shooting nearly took his life, River Clardy\u2019s family is praising God for his miraculous recovery.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2025\/03\/family-praises-god-after-son-survives-school-shooting.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Family Praises God After Son Survives Shooting","og_description":"After a school shooting nearly took his life, River Clardy\u2019s family is praising God for his miraculous recovery.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2025\/03\/family-praises-god-after-son-survives-school-shooting.html","og_site_name":"Inspiration Report","article_published_time":"2025-03-11T18:43:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-03-18T19:41:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2025\/03\/River-Clardy_credit-WMTV15.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cecilia Buchanan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2025\/03\/family-praises-god-after-son-survives-school-shooting.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2025\/03\/family-praises-god-after-son-survives-school-shooting.html","name":"Family Praises God After Son Survives Shooting","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2025\/03\/family-praises-god-after-son-survives-school-shooting.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2025\/03\/family-praises-god-after-son-survives-school-shooting.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2025\/03\/River-Clardy_credit-WMTV15.jpg","datePublished":"2025-03-11T18:43:42+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-18T19:41:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/#\/schema\/person\/450625ec20bf3e8a84060b9321455f3d"},"description":"After a school shooting nearly took his life, River Clardy\u2019s family is praising God for his miraculous recovery.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2025\/03\/family-praises-god-after-son-survives-school-shooting.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2025\/03\/family-praises-god-after-son-survives-school-shooting.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2025\/03\/family-praises-god-after-son-survives-school-shooting.html#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2025\/03\/River-Clardy_credit-WMTV15.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2025\/03\/River-Clardy_credit-WMTV15.jpg","width":1200,"height":900,"caption":"WMTV15"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2025\/03\/family-praises-god-after-son-survives-school-shooting.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Family Praises God After Son Survives Shooting"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/","name":"Inspiration Report","description":"Inspiration News, Life Advice and Emotional Wellness","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/#\/schema\/person\/450625ec20bf3e8a84060b9321455f3d","name":"Brandy Grenier","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/e53\/e53f6ea4c6b15081d4df68e2d7d7750ex96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/e53\/e53f6ea4c6b15081d4df68e2d7d7750ex96.jpg","caption":"Brandy Grenier"},"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/author\/bgrenier"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/516"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20867"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20939,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20867\/revisions\/20939"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}