AUSTIN -- The parents of a 9-year-old boy struck by lightning in West Austin received an early Christmas present Friday.
Nearly four months after a bolt of lightning struck him on a soccer field, Alex Hermann, who doctors thought might not survive was released from Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas.
A Facebook post on the "Pray for Alex" page Friday announced doctors' decision to discharge Alex.
"Today is the day that we have been waiting for, but Alex has been waiting for it most! For over three months, Alex has been working hard to become stronger and healthier by the day," it said. "However, he has been terribly homesick. It is such a relief to be able to have our whole family reunited to a new 'normal' lifestyle."
The American-Statesman and KVUE-TV last month recounted the horror of that day and Alex's recovery.
Alex's parents, Roger and Jadwiga Hermann, took him to the Field of Dreams west of downtown Austin on Aug. 26 around 4:30 p.m. — just as a single thunderstorm formed along Loop 360 near the Pennybacker Bridge. The storm traveled toward the field, and experts have said it was at least a couple of miles away when lightning struck the field.
Alex's heart stopped, and his parents and a 19-year-old coach performed CPR before paramedics arrived and STAR Flight flew him to the hospital. Because of the severity of his burns, he spent about three weeks at a pediatric burn center in Dallas.
Doctors who initially treated him said they were not sure he would live and wondered whether he would fully recover.
His parents and doctors said that along the way Alex showed sure signs of recovery, including when he turned his head at a noise in his hospital room and when he smiled at his favorite song.
Alex still needs extensive therapy, his father and a family attorney have said, and is still unable to walk or form complete sentences.
He will continue to get outpatient therapy at the hospital and "various in-home therapies as well," the Facebook post said.
Roger Hermann said the family has not yet set up a Christmas tree but will do so in coming days.
"We are just so glad to be home," he said.
