After a Michigan woman started having trouble breathing, doctors diagnosed her with COVID-19 but noticed one small detail they deemed inconsequential — a head wound.
Mary Volz, 58, went to the hospital on June 27 with symptoms of chest pain and labored breathing and received the diagnosis two days later.
Doctors were unable to identify the source of the mysterious gash until she fell in her Saginaw home on July 2 and returned to the hospital, where they discovered a bullet inside her skull.
Volz does not know how the bullet got there, the New York Post reported.
“I have no recollection of how I got shot, if it was a drive-by or if it came from people getting off the bus. I just know I have a bullet in my head,” she said.
MLive.com originally reported the story.
Volz’s head gash was caused by an 8 mm bullet or bullet fragment. The shrapnel could not be surgically removed due to infection and increased brain pressure.
Volz said she doesn’t have any known enemies, but the Michigan State Police are currently investigating the matter. It is not known whether she was intentionally shot.
“Everything’s unknown. It’s under investigation at this point,” Sgt. Steven Moore told MLive.com.
Police investigators searched Volz’s home for any sign of a shooting, but they have not found any leads in attempting to decipher the mystery.
Volz is currently recuperating at home while trying to figure out how she received a gunshot wound without realizing it.
“I have headaches every day and I have to wear a helmet, so that doesn’t help with the pain,” Volz said. “It’s pretty excruciating.”
A GoFundMe page set up in her name had received $1,860 as of Saturday.
“[Volz] underwent successful surgery to extricate the infection and fluid that is puting pressure on her brain from the stray bullet,” the page reads.
“The surgery went as well as it could considering the circumstances,” the page reads.
“The surgery went as well as it could considering the circumstances; however, in a few months she will undergo another surgery to reattach the portion of her skull that was removed. She faces a long road of rehabilitation and therapies, in the hopes that she will be fully functional to work again.”
