An international engineering student from Ghana, who recently almost lost his life while swimming, received some early Christmas cheer from a local Secret Santa, East Idaho News Reported.
Jerry, who is in his senior year, was devastated after he recently found out his father had passed away back home. To help ease his pain, Jerry’s roommates brought him on a hiking trip, where they decided to go swimming in a lake halfway through the trek.
However, while swimming, Jerry suffered a seizure and started to drown. Thankfully, two emergency room workers were nearby when Jerry went under and helped pull him out of the water before beginning to resuscitate him.
Jerry started breathing again and was airlifted to a hospital in Idaho Falls.
Despite not receiving oxygen to the brain for approximately 15 minutes and subsequently going into a coma for several days, Jerry amazingly woke up.
After undergoing several treatments at the hospital in Idaho Falls and the University of Utah Hospital, Jerry miraculously does not have significant damage to his brain or other vital organs. He has also almost regained full mobility and speech, according to East Idaho News.
Jerry is now planning on returning to school in January for his final year, which caught the attention of a local Secret Santa.
The anonymous donor, who is giving away $1 million in gifts to deserving east Idaho residents this Christmas season, decided to help make Jerry’s holidays a little extra special.
Jerry received several gifts from Secret Santa, including $1,000 in gift cards for groceries, a $1,000 gift card for clothing at Kohl’s, a $1,500 check to help cover rent for the spring semester, and a $5,000 check toward his tuition.
“Thank you so much to whoever is behind this,” a delighted Jerry told East Idaho News’s Nate Eaton, who presented the gifts on behalf of the Secret Santa. He also stated he appreciates the anonymous donor’s “generosity” and “love.”
Jerry says he hopes to use his engineering degree to better the lives of those back home.
You can follow Ethan Letkeman on Twitter at @EthanLetkeman.
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