14-year old boy asks about Juventus on waking from coma

Juventus ousted Real Madrid to make it to the Champions League final

A 14-year Italian boy identified as ‘Michael’ survived death miraculously after falling into canal and remaining underwater for 42 minutes. His friends and he reportedly jumped off a bridge in Cuggiono into water that was only 6.5 feet deep.

He was assumed dead initially as his heartbeat had stopped, but it was restarted using a defibrillator. He was then admitted in the hospital and placed under induced comato be woken up only after 4 weeks.

Among the first few things he enquired about after waking up was whether Juventus, his favorite football team was still in the Champions League.

The boy’s healthcare specialist, Dr. Alberto Zangrillo said, “He has recovered the spirit of the kid his parents and friends knew. He is a great guy, with uncommon intelligence. Every day I talk to him and joke - the other day, he asked us for a mojito!”

The medical team at San Raffaele hospital where he was admitted had a real tough job on their hands, as the medical condition of the boy was pretty serious. They had to conduct extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) to extract oxygen-deprived blood, warm it up and add oxygen, before pumping it back into the body.

This had to be repeated for 10 days during which he was in a state of induced coma. Positive signs began appearing after 15 days when an MRI scan showed that his brain was okay.

His right leg had to be amputated below the knee due to circulation problems, but he is now said to be "alert", without brain damage, and remembers what happened before the accident.

Dr. Zangrillo told Italian media that the boy's resuscitation was "the greatest satisfaction of my entire professional career" and said that the cold water had helped save his life because it caused a slow down of his vital functions.

It seems Michael has woken up in time, as his favorite team, Juventus will take on Barcelona in the grand finale of the Champions League in a few days time.