Boy came back to life after icy death

Doctors say it's a miracle that fourteen-year-old John Smith is alive. On Martin Luther King Day, Smith and two friends fell through ice on a lake outside of Saint Louis.

The two friends made it out, but 15 minutes later, rescuers pulled Smith from the lake's bottom. According to doctors, CPR continued for the next 45 minutes, but still, no heartbeat. According to TODAY, doctors said they called his mom, Joyce, so she could say goodbye.

Smith's mother entered the trauma room, praying out loud for her son's life. Then, the teen's heart began beating.

Not only did he survive, Smith's brain function is normal, despite 45 minutes without blood flow and oxygen.

The cold water likely helped, but the teen was still without oxygen long enough to have suffered major brain damage.

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