His parents started preparing for his funeral, and family travelled to Starship Hospital in Auckland to say goodbye, but Daniel Milliken did not die.
The 19-month-old boy is happy, healthy and home in North Otago after three months of care in Auckland.
On December 8 last year, about 4pm, the toddler walked into a spare bedroom in his North Oamaru home and tried to climb a set of drawers.
A television set on top slid off and on to his head.
For possibly several minutes he lay on the floor not breathing, until his brother Brooklyn Deb (12) walked into the room and saw him "lying on the ground like he was asleep''.
He picked him up and ran to his father.
Daniel's parents Jason and Diane Milliken were in the kitchen, trying to infant-proof the oven for their recently mobile youngest son.
"As soon as Brooklyn gave Daniel to Jason I could see his colour,'' Mrs Milliken said yesterday.
"Jason laid him down and straight away I could see these big ‘eggs' all over his head, one side of his head looked flat. It just wasn't the right shape.
"He [Mr Milliken] was like ‘He'll be right, he'll be right' and I just remember screaming,'' she said.
Daniel was taken to Oamaru Hospital and airlifted to Dunedin Hospital.
Doctors there prepared him for a flight up to Auckland where he arrived the next morning.
Neurosurgeons removed a small portion of the back of his brain and Daniel spent a week in a drug-induced coma.
It took another week for him to come out.
"After all the tests, they [doctors] said there was no hope,'' Mr Milliken said.
"They were going to give us a private room so people could [say goodbye], but I was going into his room at 2am and opening his eye up. And he would recognise me and smile, and move. I knew there was something going on up there. I just thought ‘maybe they're wrong'.''
Just before Christmas last year, Mrs Milliken held her son in her arms for what she was told would be the last time.
Doctors told her "it could be five minutes, it could be an hour, but eventually he will just stop breathing and slip away'', she said yesterday.
"I sat in a chair, was holding him, and they started taking the drains and everything out. It was taking forever and they started taking the breathing tube out. And they said ‘We'll let you have time with Daniel'.''
But the medical team "took the tube out and straight away, he started to cough, and he started to breathe''.
After the family spent Christmas and New Year's at Ronald McDonald House, on January 5 Daniel was transferred to the Wilson Centre in Takapuna for rehabilitation. Last month, he came home.
Both Mr and Mrs Milliken spoke yesterday about the support they received. A Givealittle page had collected $7000 for Daniel.
The Millikens are not religious, but they were overwhelmed by the number of people who prayed for their boy.
Groups in Auckland, Hawkes Bay, Oamaru, "everywhere'', had prayed.
And doctors have told them Daniel's recovery was a miracle.
The small portion removed from his brain could affect his co-ordination.
"At the moment, it's like he's gone eight months back in time,'' Mr Milliken said.
"He's learning everything again.''
He has not learned to walk again yet, but he recently began to prop himself up and had started to push around a walker.
"He's never going to be a rugby player. He is never going to play any contact sports,'' Mr Milliken said.
"But, you know, I'll buy him a set of golf clubs.''
