A missing teen has been found alive at the bottom of a steep ravine—days after vanishing without a trace. Rescue crews say it’s nothing short of a miracle he survived, but now the fight isn’t over. His mother says he’s clinging to life, hooked up to machines, every breath a battle. What began as a desperate search has turned into a tense wait, with family and friends holding on to hope that he’ll pull through. One wrong step nearly cost him everything—now, every second could decide his future.

A 13-year-old boy was found alive at the bottom of a ravine after surviving for days without food or water. Since then, his mom hasn’t left his side as he remains hospitalized in critical condition.

Dakota “Cody” Trenkle Jr. went missing on Sunday, July 27, after he was last seen skateboarding in Goose Creek Lake, the unincorporated community in Missouri about an hour outside of St. Louis, according to the St. Francois County Sheriff’s Office.

Speaking with PEOPLE, his mother, Stephanie Neely, claims that she contacted police right away, but that detectives thought he was a “runaway” and didn’t immediately launch a search for him.

Instead, she says her sister, Brittney Van Volkenburg, a volunteer firefighter, was the one to reach out to the fire department and “formulate a search team” for the first two nights. “We had volunteers bring in their drones, and offers of dogs,” Neely says. “We never stopped looking for him.”

Things changed on Wednesday, July 30 — the day Dakota was eventually found — when his brother discovered his skateboard a half a mile from their home.

After calling detectives again, the mom says officers requested help from the county’s K-9 unit, but the dogs “refused to enter” the ravine, she says. Fortunately, the Farmington Correctional Center (FCC) K-9 unit was able to deploy their bloodhound named Darrell.

Once Darrell caught the scent, the dog was able to locate Dakota in 21 minutes.

The teen was found alive at the bottom of the ravine “in approximately one foot of water in a wet weather creek, 540 yards from his skateboard, with a 240-foot elevation change,” local police wrote in their news release.

The St. Francois County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for additional comment.