Comatose boy shows signs of life after parents sign organ donor paperwork

MOBILE, Ala. — A 13-year-old boy in a vegetative state showed signs of life after his parents signed paperwork to donate his organs.

Trenton McKinley was injured while riding in a trailer being pulled by a dune buggy two months ago, according to WALA. He was rushed to the hospital with seven fractures to his skull.

Scroll down to continue reading

More news from KIRO 7

• Family's Maple Valley home contaminated with meth
• 'What's funny? My baby is dead!' Mother of dead toddler yells in courtroom outburst
• Arrest made in hepatitis C outbreak at Puyallup hospital; nurse could face assault charge
• Caller described teens on college tour as 'really odd'
• SPD officer faces discipline for arrest of man with ice axe

DOWNLOAD OUR FREE NEWS APP

"All I saw was a stretcher with his feet hanging out. He was dead a total of 15 minutes," his mother, Jennifer Reindl, recently told WALA. "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."

Trenton was brain dead and barely breathing for several days, as his parents wrestled with the decision to donate his organs in March. They signed the papers. A day before doctors were going to pull the plug, Trenton showed signs of life.

"There's no other explanation but God,” Trenton said. “There's no other way. Even doctors said it."

Trenton continues to recover at UAB Hospital. He has undergone three brain surgeries, and continues to suffer nerve pain and seizures, according to WALA.

"From no brain waves to now walking and talking and reading, doing math. A miracle," Reindl told CBS News.

A crowd source funding account was created to help pay for medical costs.

Cox Media Group