For 11 agonizing days, 13-year-old Dakota “Cody” Trenkle Jr. lay in a hospital bed, fighting for his life after vanishing from his Missouri neighborhood.
The teen had gone missing while skateboarding, sparking a desperate three-day search. He was finally discovered at the bottom of a ravine—injured, dehydrated, and barely clinging to life. Rescuers rushed him to St. Louis, where doctors placed him in a medically induced coma with multiple brain bleeds, pneumonia, and severe trauma from the fall.
His mother, Stephanie, refused to leave his side. Every hour felt like an eternity as she waited for the smallest sign her son might return to her.
That moment finally came.
On the 11th day, Dakota stirred. Weak, still tangled in wires, he opened his eyes and looked at his mom. Then, slowly, he lifted his hands and signed three words she had longed to hear: “I love you.”
Stephanie broke down in tears. “That moment made every sleepless night and every ounce of fear worth it,” she said. “It was my proof that he was coming back to me.”
Since then, Dakota has taken small but powerful steps toward recovery—eating his first solid meal, breathing without a ventilator, and smiling through the pain. The road ahead is long: he can’t walk yet, his injuries remain serious, and his body is still battling infection. But his spirit? Unshaken.
Born prematurely, Dakota had fought for his life once before. Now, almost 14 years later, he’s doing it again—reminding everyone around him that resilience can triumph even in the darkest of battles.
His first words after the coma weren’t just for his mother. They were a message for anyone facing impossible odds: Don’t give up.