HUBBALLI, India — A 17-year-old in India who was presumed dead woke up on the way to his own funeral, according to the Times of India.
Last month, Kumar Marewad suffered a dog bite and developed a high fever. When his condition worsened last week, his family brought him to a local hospital.
The infection spread, however, and relatives were left with a difficult decision.
“We had decided to take Kumar home after doctors told us his chances of survival were bleak once taken off the ventilator,” the teen’s brother-in-law Sharanappa Naikar told the Times of India.
Once doctors removed Kumar from the ventilator, he became motionless and stopped breathing. Relatives presumed him dead and prepared for his funeral in the village of Dharwad Managundi.
Less than two miles from the site, however, Kumar opened his eyes, began “moving his hands and legs and started breathing fast,” the Times of India reported. He was immediately rushed to the hospital, where doctors said he was suffering from a viral infection called meningoencephalitis.
Meningoencephalitis is usually brought on by infection, and causes swelling of both the brain and the meninges, or the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord.
He is currently in critical condition.
