When 12-year-old Bishnu Manhakud from Dhangadadiha village in Keonjhar on the Bay of Bengal set out to pick blackberries (not the kind indigenous to the United States), it seemed like any other day.

He had been climbing in the tree plucking the ripe fruit from the branches when he slipped and fell. Unfortunately, as he fell, he became impaled on a long tree branch.

The four-feet long branch had went in through the left side of his chest and came out through the front of his neck. Locals rushed him to the community health center, but the little facility didn’t have the equipment to take on such a task.

Worried for his survival, they transferred him to a larger hospital named Srirama Chandra Bhanja Medical College and Hospital in Chuttak. The trip was 120 miles from his village and experts weren’t even sure he’d survive the trip to the other facility.

But he did make the trip there, and Dr. Manoj Kumar Patnaik led a team of five doctors to treat the boy. A CT scan and other tests revealed that none of his major organs were affected by the tree branch.

They performed surgery on the young man in a procedure that took three hours, but the branch was successfully removed from his body. The doctors are saying it is a true miracle.

Although the young boy nearly lost his life, doctors say he will eventually be fine. He will stay in the hospital for a few days to avoid any chance of infection, but otherwise, the young patient is going to be make a full recovery.