21-year-old Felipe Ribeiro Desouza, was swimming at New Smyrna Beach in Florida last month. Suddenly the rip currents caught him and started dragging him out to sea. He was frantically swimming trying to get out of it.
Two boogie boarders saw what was happening and went out to get him. By the time they reached him he was dead.
They pulled his lifeless body from the ocean and placed him on one of their boards and dragged him back to the sand.
They estimate Felipe had been gone for about 5 minutes at this point.
A lifeguard Dalton Smith and Deputy Stan Manhart gave Desouza CPR
For around six to seven minutes, Desouza had no detectable heartbeat! But suddenly he did!
"With saltwater drownings, what happens is when the saltwater enters the lungs, you have a major fluid shift in the body. So that creates pulmonary edema. So this this patient needed advanced lifesaving airway procedures."
Felipe miraculously made a full recovery, with no side effects. Doctors at AdventHealth still can't explain on how his mind and body did that.
Dalton said "I just knew in my soul this guy wasn't dying today. I heard people saying 'oh my god he's dead'. But I thought 'no he's not'!
When everyone involved in the rescue came to see Felipe the next day at the hospital he was so thankful to everyone. But he added he may never see them again as he will never return to the beach. :)