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Florida teen survives after boat anchor punctures skull

Posted at 6:55 AM, Oct 01, 2019
and last updated 2019-10-01 06:55:04-04

(SNN/NBC) - A Florida teen has received a clean bill of health just six months after an anchor hit his skull.

A regular day on the water in March quickly took a terrible turn for 14-year-old Caleb Bennett.

"I saw something in the bottom of the boat so I went and tied it down, and then I stood up and next thing I know there's an anchor in my head," said Caleb.

The teen calmly removed the anchor, his friend called 911 and his brother got them back to shore quickly.

"If you're going to be crazy and freak out and try to pull it out right away, you're going twist it around and you're going die, cause that's what everyone would do, so I thought being calm was the best thing," said Caleb.

Caleb had to be airlifted to Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg. His parents were in the Bahamas at the time of the accident but quickly flew back to Florida.

"I got a call to say that there is a trauma coming to the emergency room and there is a young man who took an anchor to his head. During residency I had people with arrows to a head, gunshot wounds," said Dr. Luis Rodriguez, a pediatric neurosurgeon.

But this was Rodriguez's first anchor. The medical team quickly got into surgery removing bone fragments from his brain and taking out a part of his skull. Only one frontal lobe was damaged something Caleb can live without.

"If the anchor had gone about a centimeter lower, it would have injured his eye and it's very possible it would have injured his carotid artery, and he would have been dead, if it goes a centimeter to the middle a bit more same thing," said Rodriquez.

He spent five days in a coma as brain swelling went down.

"He looked lifeless and he couldn't talk to me and he couldn't smile for me, couldn't give me those emotions that as a mom you want to see your kid is OK," said Caleb’s mother, Kelli.

After he awoke from the coma, Caleb said his first thought was to let his parents know he was going to be OK.

"His personality came back, all his memories came back, he's perfectly healthy,” said Caleb’s dad, Rick Bennett.

He left the hospital in 10 days, something doctors say is practically a miracle.

"God saved my life," said Caleb.

Caleb is right back to spending most of his time on the water with his family and friends.

"We certainly are more careful about where we store the anchor," said Rick Bennett.

"They're grateful that I'm alive, make a lot of jokes about me, I'm the anchorman now," said Caleb.

Caleb's family says they are so thankful to the doctors and nurses at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital as well as the first responders who helped save his life.

Courtesy Suncoast News Network via NBC News Channel