Brazilian student, 21, continues to party for four days without realising he had been shot in the head leaving a bullet lodged in his brain

Mateus Facio underwent a two-hour surgery to remove a bullet from his brain

A Brazilian student continued to party for four days without realising he had been shot in the head, leaving a bullet lodged in his brain.

Mateus Facio, 21, thought he had been hit in the head by someone throwing a stone while he was partying on New Year’s Eve in Rio de Janeiro and didn’t think anything of it after the bleeding stopped quickly.

Facio spent the following four days partying with friends and swimming in the ocean – totally ignorant of the fact he had been shot.

He finally sought medical help because his right arm was spasming. After running a CT scan, medics were horrified to find a bullet lodged in Facio’s brain.

Facio underwent a two-hour life-saving operation and spent two days in intensive care, with the university student now recovering at his home in Juiz de Fora, southern Brazil.

Facio underwent a two-hour life-saving operation and spent two days in intensive care, with the university student now recovering at his home in Juiz de Fora, southern Brazil

He finally sought medical help because his right arm was spasming. After running a CT scan, medics were horrified to find a bullet lodged in Facio’s brain

Mateus Facio, 21, thought he had been hit in the head by someone throwing a stone while he was partying on New Year’s Eve in Rio de Janeiro and didn’t think anything of it after the bleeding stopped quickly

He only went to hospital a couple of days after he travelled the 200 mile journey home to Juiz de Fora, during which he had to repeatedly stop driving due to his right arm spasming.

Facio said the journey took seven hours instead of the normal four and a half hours because of the shooting pains.

Neurosurgeon Flavio Falcometa said after operating on the student: ‘Part of the bullet penetrated his brain which caused compression in that area and led to his arm’s involuntary movements.

‘If it had ended up a few millimetres from where it did, it could have caused much more serious damage and left his arm or one side of his body paralysed.

‘It was very risky for the patient but we believe that in 20 to 30 days he will be able to continue with his normal life.’

Police were last night analysing the bullet removed from his head as they begun an investigation into who fired the shot that could have had devastating consequences for Facio.

Facio was with friends on a beach in Cabo Frio east of Rio de Janeiro and preparing to see in the New Year when he was hit in the head

He told the remarkable story of his survival and ongoing recovery to Brazilian TV show Jornal Nacional.

Facio was with friends on a beach in Cabo Frio east of Rio de Janeiro and preparing to see in the New Year when he was hit in the head.

He recalled: ‘I thought it was a stone, something like that. It was like the sound of an explosion, when a bomb goes off, but inside my head.

‘The bleeding stopped, we left, I took a shower and went out partying.’

After waking up on New Years Day, Facio and his friends went back to a local beach and on January 2 he did the long journey back to his native city of Juiz de Fora in the neighbouring state of Minas Gerais.

He went to hospital on January 4, nearly five days after being shot, after his right arm became ‘droopy’ and the muscle spasms started.

Police took a statement from him after it emerged the problems were being caused by a bullet in his brain.

Detectives in Cabo Frio are now trying to establish who fired the gun that could have killed Facio, who is planning on becoming a doctor.

His relieved mum said: ‘It’s inexplicable how someone can have a bullet lodged in their head for four days and survive. I feel like my son has been born again.’