A 13-year-old boy who suffered severe brain trauma in an accident regained consciousness after his parents signed paperwork to donate his organs. Trenton McKinley of Mobile, Alabama, suffered the injury two months ago when a small utility trailer he was riding flipped over.
“I hit the concrete, and the trailer landed on top of my head. After that, I don’t remember anything,” he told WALA-TV.
He suffered seven skull fractures in the accident, and his parents were told that Trenton would never be the same.
His mother, Jennifer Reindl, said she signed the papers to donate Trenton’s organs because five kids needing transplants were a match.
“A man from the UAB organ donation came and talked to us in the family conference room about donating five organs to UAB children’s hospital that would save five other children. We said yes, that also insured that they would continue to keep Trenton alive to clean his organs for the donation,” Reindl told CBS News on Sunday.
But just a day before doctors were set to end Trenton’s life support, he showed signs of cognition, and now he’s slowly going through recovery.
“The next day he was scheduled to have his final brain wave test to call his time of death but his vitals spiked so they canceled the test,” Reindl said.
He’s dealing with nerve pain and seizures and will soon undergo surgery to reconnect part of his skull, but Reindl said he’s getting stronger every day.
“From no brainwaves to now walking and talking and reading, doing math. A miracle,” she said.
Trenton said he believes he was in heaven while he was unconscious.
“I was in an open field walking straight,” he told WALA-TV. “There’s no other explanation but God. There’s no other way. Even doctors said it.”
The family started a fundraiser on Facebook that has already exceeded its $4,000 goal.