Teen Who Survived Fall Onto 115,000 Volt Line Is Thankful To Be Alive
BOSTON (CBS) - A Plymouth teenager says his outlook on life has changed since he survived an electric shock from a 115,000 volt line and a 20 to 30 foot fall from a tower he climbed outside an Eversource substation in June.
"I've been walking for like a week now," says Donovan Mitchell, breaking his silence six weeks after he made headlines with his botched daredevil stunt. "I don't remember any of it."
He is currently at Shriners Burn Hospital. He says he knew it was a risky move, but he didn't realize just how dangerous.
He had climbed the tower many times before, all the way to the crossbar that carries the high tension lines. "It was my fault. I kicked the thing and the electricity went straight through my foot and up my back," he said.
He broke some ribs when he fell, and the shock left him with severe burns through his clothes to his skin. "This is all new skin," he explains, showing the scars on his shoulder and arms where doctors have completed skin graft surgery. "It takes a long time and it hurts," he says. "It's totally worth it in the end."
He's also healing from the emotional trauma, and has a message for anyone thinking of taking the kind of risk he did. "You can't change everything anyone does, but I would definitely try to stop them, like nobody did for me," he says.
Mitchell says he's lucky to be alive, and is thankful to the doctors and nurses at Shriners, and looks forward to going home next week.
