Sartell teen who was shocked, fell 30 ft. tells survival story

SARTELL, Minn. (KMSP) - Danny Fleigle remembers waking up the morning of June 15. The next thing he remembers is waking up several days later in a hospital bed.

"It's great just to be here and know everyone cared to come out. I'm glad I'm alive," Fleigle said, while sitting next to the friends who helped save his life.

Fleigle does not remember going to the Old Sartell Bridge 12 days ago, or climbing to the top of one of the arches, or nearly losing his balance and grabbing an electrical wire and getting shocked and falling 30 feet to the wooden bridge deck below.

But his friend's certainly do.

"When he didn't have a  reaction to his hat blowing off, I knew something was up. Like he wasn't ok and then it all happened so fast," Madison Demarais, Fleigle's friend said

After Demarais called 911, a dispatcher told Abby Trelfa how to perform CPR on Danny, who had stopped breathing.

"Nothing was going through my head. It was all a blur. We need to save this kid's life," Trelfa said.

Doctors were eventually able to shock his heart and get it beating again. They say if it weren't for his friends, he probably wouldn't survived.

"I just want to give these young ladies kudos. Had they not done that, this young man may not be sitting here. Very remarkable. Truly a miracle," Dr. Andrew Kiragu said.

In addition to staples in his head, a concussion, and a broken rib and vertebrae, Fleigle has short term memory loss.

But his mother won't soon forget what happened to him.

"He means the world to me and I couldn't imagine life without him," Shelly Fleigle said.

Doctors say Danny should get out of the hospital in about a week, but he'll think twice about climbing any bridges in the future.

They also say the 16-year-old will have to do some rehabilitation before he goes home, but his short term memory should return over time.

"I never thought it would happen to me. I thought I was invincible," Danny said.