13-year-old Trenton McKinley, from Mobile County, Alabama is living proof that timing really is everything.
Trenton was recently involved in a dune buggy accident which left him unconscious with severe brain trauma. Trenton’s family was told by doctors that he would most likely spend the rest of his life as a vegetable.
“All I saw was a stretcher with his feet hanging out. He was dead a total of 15 minutes,” Trenton’s mom, Jennifer Reindl, tells Fox 10. “When he came back, they said he would never be normal again. They told me the oxidation problems would be so bad to his brain, that he would be a vegetable if he even made it.”
At that point, Jennifer and Trenton’s dad made the decision to take Trenton off life support and donate his organs to other children in need.
“Five kids needed organs that matched him,” said Reindl. “It was unfair to keep bringing him back, because it was just damaging his organs even more.”
The day before Trenton was scheduled to be taken off life support, however, something truly miraculous happened: Trenton began showing signs of brain activity and regained consciousness. The 13-year-old says that he believes he had been in heaven.
“I was in an open field walking straight. There’s no other explanation but God. There’s no other way. Even doctors said it.”
Although Trenton lost 50 lbs while he was unconscious, and deals with nerve pain and daily seizures, he’s slowly but surely making a recovery. Half of his skull is currently frozen at the hospital, and Trenton will soon have surgery to reconnect it.
That said, the 13-year-old has a remarkably good sense of humor about the whole thing, and even made jokes about using the dent in his head as a chip bowl.
“I said I could turn sideways and put salsa in there and eat chips and dip out of my head. No more washing dishes for me!” he laughed. “She wouldn’t let me put nothing in it though. I really wanted to see if I could.”