‘It’s a Pure Miracle’: Boy Survives Falling Face First on a Meat Skewer

A 10-year-old boy reportedly fell out of a tree house and landed face first on a meat skewer.

Miraculously, Xavier Cunningham survived, something his father, Shannon Miller, says happened according to the God’s plan.

“I said, ‘Lord I don’t care. I know you have a plan,'” Miller says. “All I can remember is laughing and crying and cheering. Just the support of my friends and family, it was powerful.”

The incident occurred Sept. 8, according to a GoFundMe page.

Xavier and his friends were playing in a field when they discovered a barbecue meat skewer and stuck it fork-end down in the ground. The boys then climbed into a tree house, that, unbeknownst to them, held a yellow jacket nest.

The yellow jackets swarmed the children, and Xavier fell face first onto the meat skewer.

“It missed his brain. It missed his brain stem. It missed the nerves, everything that’s valuable in your head. It missed everything,” Miller says.

The way the skewer went through Xavier’s head without hitting any major vessels was a “one-in-a-million shot,” Dr. Kiran Kakarala, a head and neck surgeon at University of Kansas Health System who also treated Xavier, says. “Our job was basically to replicate that one-in-a-million shot by taking it out without damaging anything.”

While the medical team operated, the Miller family prayed over their son.

Dr. Koji Ebersole says more than 100 people contributed to saving Xavier’s life.

“The plan would not have worked if he wasn’t as brave as he was … his ability to be calm in a very dramatic situation is what helped us to finish the task,” Ebersole says.

“It’s a pure miracle,” Miller says.

Miller posted to social media that many people have rallied around the family, including their church community.