ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. – For 8-year-old Janek Bebout, laughter has not only become his best medicine, but it is something he wants to share with the world -- one fart noise at a time. You heard that right!
Bebout and his family endured unimaginable trauma back in June of 2024. He was shot in the head while playing at a Rochester Hills splash pad.
His little brother was shot in the leg, and his mother, Johanna, was hit eight times while protecting them.
Six others were injured in the horrific attack. Unbelievably, everyone survived.
One day, Bebout, inside his hospital room, was playing with squishy slime, and the slime made a noise.
He let out a belly laugh that his family hadn’t heard since the shooting.
Reporter: “What noise did it make that made you laugh?”
Bebout: “A fart noise.”
Reporter: “Who doesn’t think farts are funny?
Bebout: “Some girls, but my friend Jane thinks they’re hilarious.”
For Bebout’s mother, seeing her boys smile again is nothing short of a miracle.
“Seeing them laughing again and seeing them starting to run around and just be themselves again was just so inspiring to me,” said Johanna. “So I’m like, OK. I’m gonna get myself back up. We have been given this second chance at life, and we are so incredibly grateful.”
Bebout spent three days in a coma — his face swollen and bruised. The shooting left him permanently blind. But he already says he’s feeling “way way, way, way better.”
Reporter: “A billion times better?”
Bebout: “Uh-huh.”
“He puts such a smile on your face, and he makes you realize what really matters,” said Amanda Lefkof, Child Life Specialist at Corewell. “And that if he can get through something like this, then the problems we face in our day really aren’t that big of a deal.”
Bebout, who calls himself “the good kind of crazy,” decided he wanted to help other kids in the hospital, too.
“‘Nana, I want to do this for the other kids,’” he told his grandmother, Barbara Soffin. “‘Will you help me?’ Absolutely, I’ll help you!”
Together, they collected more than 2,400 containers of slime to donate to children. Each one is labeled “Janek’s Laughter.”
And, of course, Bebout has his own creative names for the fart-like sounds the slime makes, like “butt belch” and “one cheek squeak.”
Now, with custom T-shirts, a mission to spread joy, and plenty of toots to go around, Bebout’s laughter is proving to be unstoppable.
--> Mass shooting at Rochester Hills splash pad: What we know about victims, shooter
