After a devastating accident left a 13-year-old boy with multiple skull fractures, his parents were prepared to donate his organs. Then, he began to recovery.
As you will see in the video below, Trenton"s recovery has been nothing sort of amazing. He"ll tell you that himself in the video below.
It"s no wonder that so many people keep referring to this as a miracle.
Two months ago, Trenton McKinley of Mobile, Alabama was hospitalized under especially tragic circumstances.
The 13-year-old had been in a serious accident.
While riding in a trailer that was hitched to the back of a dune buggy that his friend was driving.
If that sounds like a recipe for disaster to you, you are correct.
ABC reports that when his friend stopped the buggy abruptly, the trailer flipped over.
Trenton"s head hit the concrete and the trailer landed on his head.
He had seven skull fractures and needed two different surgeries to remove a portion of his skull.
Doctors did not expect him to make it, as his mother explains.
"He was dead a total of 15 minutes."
While the medical term for death refers to someone not having any cardiovascular function, brains needs oxygen to live, and when they are starved of oxygen, a person dies.
"When he came back, they said he would never be normal again."
Doctors feared the worst, and warned the family to not get their hopes up.
"They told me the oxidation problems would be so bad to his brain, that he would be a vegetable if he even made it."
The parents were prepared to donate his organs, which is absolutely the responsible thing to do.
But, 48 to 72 hours after coming to the hospital, and a day before they would have taken him off of life support, Trenton began to show signs of brain function.
Some internet denizens have condemned the parents for being prepared to donate his organs and accused the doctors of being "greedy" for his organs.
The family, it sounds like, is just happy to have their son back.
His mother says: "He"s a miracle, and he just amazes everybody."
Trenton himself says this:
"There"s no other explanation but God. There"s no other way that I could have came back. Even the doctors said."
Obviously, and with zero disrespect towards the McKinley family or anyone else"s religious beliefs, medical experts have offered an explanation.
In fact, you may have guessed it, based upon accounts of how young children are more likely to survive certain traumatic events — like plunging into a freezing river — than adults.
There is a higher level of plasticity to a young, developing brain than there is to an adult whose brain is finished developing.
This means that new connections are easier to form, and it also means that parts of a child"s brain have an easier time repurposing themselves.
Again, the doctors who mention this are in no way trying to diminish this family"s feeling that this recovery was miraculous.
As you can see in the video below, Trenton is still recovering.
He appears to need help and support when taking actions like rising up and walking.
But it is wonderful that he and his family were able to pull through this tragedy.
We absolutely wish him the best as he continues to recover.
Hear him speak in the video below:
