Teen Woke Up After 11 Days in Coma and Used Sign Language to Give Mom a Message

Dakota “Cody” Trenkle Jr., the 13-year-old boy who was missing for over three days before he was found at the bottom of a ravine, has woken up from an 11-day medically induced coma, his mother, Stephanie Neely, tells PEOPLE.

“[It took] 11 long days after being missing for 80 hours” for her “to have hope that Cody was going to be okay,” Neely says.

Dakota went missing on Sunday, July 27, after he was last seen skateboarding in Goose Creek Lake, Mo. The young teen went more than three days without food or water. On Wednesday, July 30, his brother discovered Dakota’s skateboard a half a mile from their home. Later that day, the Farmington Correctional Center (FCC) K-9 unit deployed their bloodhound named Darrell, who found Dakota lying in a foot of water.

Dakota was airlifted to a St. Louis hospital, where he was placed in a medically induced coma with a brain bleed, his mom previously told PEOPLE. He suffered deep wounds to his body, as well as severe head trauma, several brain bleeds, an additional fracture on his skull, weakened kidneys and needed a ventilator to breathe.

After nearly two weeks of Stephanie waiting by his bedside, Dakota was alert and there were signs of him waking up on Friday, Aug. 8, per the Facebook group dedicated to providing updates, titled “Dakota Strong.”

By Saturday, Aug. 9, Stephanie tells PEOPLE that he was alert enough to share his affection by signing the American Sign Language gesture for “I love you.”

“That moment was pivotal to me. It’s made the last couple weeks of stress, heartache, hope, gratitude, sadness, and pain worth it because that small gesture meant my boy was coming back to me,” she says.

He was off the ventilator by Sunday, Aug. 10. “He is doing so well!!” a post on the Facebook page read. “We still have a long recovery road ahead, but this is huge progress!!!!!!”

On Monday, Aug. 11, Dakota enjoyed his first meal: a burger and a Coke.

“When Cody was being weened off sedation, off the ventilator, and became more alert, he looked at me and said ‘Mama, I’m thirsty, I need a 16 ounce coke from McDonald’s!’ ” Neely says. “The next day, I had ordered him a Whopper from Burger King in hopes to get him to eat.”

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After Cody woke up, he “was still on sedation for a few days to help ease him out of the coma,” Neely explains to PEOPLE. She notes as of Wednesday, Aug. 13, he is no longer on sedation, so the “last 24 hours have been very difficult for him pain-wise.” 

“He can’t walk due to injuries and also loss of muscle mass during his time in the coma,” she says. “He is struggling to talk for long periods of time out of pure exhaustion, the pneumonia, and his other infections he is fighting.” 

Neely previously told NBC affiliate KSDK that the water caused him to contract “a lot of infectious bacteria,” which led him to develop pneumonia. Additionally, because he fell into the 240-foot deep ravine, he also suffered severe wounds on his back because he was submerged for so long.

“His brain injuries are still very prominent, and are being monitored very closely,” Neely tells PEOPLE. She notes that he will be transferred to a pediatric hospital inpatient unit that specializes in physical, occupational, and psychological therapies.

“We are very grateful for his progress and pleased we are finally moving in the right direction,” she adds. 

“I’ve known he was a fighter since he was born,” Neely told KSDK. “He was born super preemie, and he fought for his life then, and now, almost 14 years later, he’s doing it again.”

“Just proving to all of us just truly how strong he is, how resilient, and how stubborn he is, which is honestly what saved his life,” Neely told KSDK. “He wasn’t going to give up. And he’s like, ‘I’m not just gonna lay here and die.’ For him to finally come out of it two weeks after he went missing is huge. He’s still proving to everyone, ‘I’m fighting, I’m still here, I can survive.’ “