Parents of toddler crushed by redwood tree call boy's survival a 'miracle'

BOULDER CREEK, Calif. - A two-year-old boy is expected to survive after suffering critical injuries when a tree fell onto his family's house in Santa Cruz County during this week's windstorms. The boy's family is calling his survival a miracle. 

The parents of Milo had an encouraging update Thursday afternoon. They say amazingly, he is in stable condition and on the long road to recovery. 

The little boy was in the living room of the home on Bobcat Lane in Boulder Creek when the top of a massive redwood came down on Tuesday evening. Milo's lower body was pinned underneath. When firefighters arrived they had to pull out saws and cut the tree in order to free him. His parents say that neighbors were among the first to rush in to help save their child. 

A two-year-old Boulder Creek boy is recovering after suffering critical injuries when a tree fell onto his family's house during a wind storm. 

"I think they could hear me screaming," said the boy' mother, Catherine Smith. "And just the immediate neighbors around, they all just kind of went full force and immediately started helping. I know at least two neighbors were up in the house with Milo after I was no longer in the house and other neighbors were trying to contact 911." 

Milo's father came home to the frantic scene playing out at his house. He says he held his son and kept him warm and awake until help arrived. The little boy was taken to Dominican Hospital in critical condition with injuries to his lower body. 

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His father calls him one determined little boy. "Very strong-headed, his way or the highway kind of attitude. Most caring and loving kid ever though. When he wants it his way, he wants it his way, but otherwise he wants to be your best friend, will show you everything that he's doing. Loves food and music, his favorite is cheese. We joke about it all the time," said father Zachary Smith. "He's the luckiest unlucky kid in the entire world at this point for chances of him to be struck by the tree like that. But to be in that particular position and particular way it was. Yeah, a miracle." 

Milo was eventually moved to the ICU Santa Clara Valley Medical Center where his parents say he will remain for a few more weeks as he recovers from surgery. 

A GoFundMe page has been created to help pay for Milo's recovery.