Rescuers with heavy equipment work to free 6-year-old Nathan Woessner who fell into a hole in a massive sand dune last week at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan City, Ind. Doctors said Monday that the boy, who was buried for hours in the sand dune, is responsive and expected to make a full neurological recovery.CHICAGO – One minute, 6-year-old Nathan Woessner was scampering up a massive dune in northern Indiana with his dad and a friend. He was gone the next, without a warning or sound.
More than three hours later, rescuers pulled Nathan out from under 11 feet of sand on Friday. He showed no signs of life: He was cold to the touch, had no pulse and wasn’t breathing. His limp body was put into the back of a pickup truck, which started toward a waiting ambulance.
The plan was to take him to the hospital rather than the coroner’s office, even if he was dead, in order to “give the family and rescue workers hope,” La Porte (Ind.) County Chief Deputy Coroner Mark Huffman said Monday.
As the truck bounced over the dune, a medic noticed something astonishing: The boy took a breath. Then, a cut on his head started bleeding. The jolt apparently shocked Nathan’s body back to life, Huffman said. Nathan was rushed to the hospital and was crying in the emergency room when Huffman arrived a few minutes later.
“Man, I tell you that was such a great feeling,” Huffman said. “This is not something that I as the chief deputy coroner get to report that often. It’s an absolute miracle this child survived.”