Days After Shot In Heart, Driver Makes Triumphant Return

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A pizza delivery driver returned to his workplace Thursday -- less than two weeks after he was shot in the heart.

Andrew Gryskiewicz was finishing his final deliveries during the early morning hours of July 23, when someone approached his car and shot him in the shoulder.

The bullet then traveled through his heart.

"It's pretty amazing. His entire story is pretty amazing," said Jared Gruett, Gryskiewicz's boss at Dulono's Pizza in Minneapolis.

While most people long for a vacation, Gryskiewicz can't wait to get back to work.

"It makes my recovery easier and better and makes me happier to know that all these people are supporting me," Gryskiewicz said.

His dad, Duffy Boeser, was there to cheer on his son Thursday.

"Here we are. He's back at Dulono's. It's not even two weeks later," Boeser said. "Pretty amazing."

Especially when you consider that doctors at Hennepin County Medical Center literally had to plug a hole in his heart.

The gunman's bullet traveled through his shoulder, his heart and into his liver -- where it will likely stay the rest of his life.

"The bullet is safely in my liver," Gryskiewicz said.

It is a story his friends and co-workers wanted to hear. But mostly they wanted to see Gryskiewicz. On biker night at Dulono's, they held a raffle to help raise money for his recovery.

"The winner will get half the pot and Andrew will get the other half," Gruett said.

With his lungs now 100 percent, and his wounds slowly but surely healing, Gryskiewicz made the rounds at Dulono's -- although he is not ready to return to his delivery job just yet.

"I remember a guy with a white mask. I remember a gun," Gryskiewicz said.

As he struggles to remember the moments leading up to when he was shot, just being back at work makes Gryskiewicz realize he could have missed out on so much more than just work.

"It made me happy to be back. Made me happy to see the whole parking lot," Gryskiewicz said. "And I love working here so it's good to be back."

Gryskiewicz's dad says the hardest part was that his son was unconscious for a day and a half after he was shot. Doctors do not know if he had brain damage from loss of blood.

They have raised $19,000 so far for his recovery, and they are hoping for more. Click here to help.