A Minnesota family believes their 9-year-old son is alive today because of a miracle. In March, Gus Deterding was preparing to go hunting with his dad, Dave Deterding, when he slipped on a patch of ice. An arrow he’d tucked under his arm pierced his skull and went into his brain. Gus pulled it out and rushed inside. When he ran into the house to get his parents, they could not believe what they saw.
Abby Deterding told KARE’s Boyd Huppert that Gus had blood all over him and she did her best to stay calm.
“I was vacuuming downstairs, and Dave was getting dressed, and (Gus) came in, in a panic,” she said.
His mother cleaned up his wound, and they took Gus to the hospital. “He kept saying. ‘Mom, am I dying, am I going to leave you? I don’t want to leave you yet,'” Abby Deterding recalled to KARE. “And I’m like Gus, ‘No, we’re just getting stitches.'”
But Gus’ injury was far more serious than his parents realized. They had no idea just how deeply the arrow had pierced his skull.
The Deterdings were air-lifted to Children’s Minnesota Hospital, but after just a few hours, doctors released them. They returned a second time when he began vomiting. That’s when doctors took scans and made the unbelievable discovery.
Dr. Ken Maslonka of Children’s Minnesota Hospital shared an image of Gus’ brain with KARE. The image showed the point of entry and a small piece of bone that carried the tip of the arrow.
“He looked too normal,” Maslonka said. “I would say in the 28 years I’ve been at Children’s of Minnesota I’ve never seen anything like this.”
His parents agreed and were shocked at what they saw.
“It literally took my breath away and I felt, like, sick to my stomach,” Abby Deterding recalled to the news outlet. “I couldn’t believe it. ‘No, that far, what?'”
Maslonka showed KARE the path the arrow took, starting next to Gus’ nose and ending near the top of his skull.
“All the sensory and motor function is all coming through here,” Masloka explained. “It came within two centimeters of exiting the skull.”
The boy was so close to a fatal injury. “Had it hit that, that would have been death within minutes,” Maslonka told KARE.
The doctor added that if he’d seen the scan before hearing the story, he would have thought Gus died in the accident.
Three months later, he’s just the same as he was before the accident. His parents believe God saved him, saying, “It’s a miracle.”
