I was shot and the bullet past through my hand then struck me in the neck. Since the bullet impacted my out stretched hand within 4-5 feet of the barrel it never reached full velocity, thus upon entering my neck it was slowed to the point it couldn't pass through the neck and shoulder tissue. Neither the bullet nor any fragment of it made contact with the spinal cord or the cervical vertebrae, yet I'm paralyzed due to bruising of the spinal cord. My question is, since I had a previous fusion of C4, C5 and C6 did that increase the extent of the damage which occurred. If the answer is yes, to what degree of increased probability would be a fair guess.