AP News, March 21st, 2007
The 12-year-old Boy Scout rescued after spending four days alone and lost in the rugged North Carolina mountains remained hospitalized Wednesday, recovering from severe dehydration and exposure to cold.
Michael Auberry had lost feeling in his fingers and toes by the time rescue workers found him Tuesday morning. But his father, who said his son was experiencing "frost nip," said feeling was returning to his son's fingers and doctors expected the same for his toes.
Kent Auberry said his son was even cracking a few jokes.
"Just the difference between yesterday and today, Michael is coming back to us," Kent Auberry said. "This was a pretty traumatic experience for him. He felt alone as he could feel, and thought, 'I have screwed up.'"
Michael disappeared early Saturday afternoon from his Boy Scout camping trip. Fellow Scouts thought Michael had just gone to clean his mess kit after eating, fellow Boy Scout Griffin Prufer told NBC's "Today" show Wednesday. But as the time wore on, they grew worried.
"I was scared," Griffin said. "He (Michael) said something to his tent mate. He said he didn't want to go on camping trips anywhere."
Scores of searchers with trained dogs and heat-sensing helicopters scoured the area for days. Then, just before noon on Tuesday, a search dog named Gandalf caught Michael's scent about a mile from the Scout troop's camp site.
Gandalf "popped his head three times" and there was Michael, walking along a stream, said Misha Marshall, the 2-year-old Shiloh shepherd's trainer.
Michael said he slept in tree branches, drank river water and curled up under rocks while he was in the wilderness. His father said he saw the search helicopters and heard people calling him, but he yelled back and they didn't hear him.
He was believed to only have a mess kit and potato chips with him when he disappeared, and temperatures dropped into the 20s on some nights. He said he lost his hat and glasses in the woods as he wandered.
Searchers gave the boy granola bars, crackers and water after finding him. At the hospital after his rescue, he ate chicken fingers and asked for cookies. He was hooked up to an IV on the way to the hospital Tuesday, but officials said he was generally in good health.
