Missouri boy, 10, survives being impaled in the face by a metal meat skewer

A Missouri father said his 10-year-old son is lucky to be alive after the child was impaled by a 12-inch metal meat skewer when he fell from a tree house. (WDAF-TV)

The X-ray shows the skewer that went into the boy's face. (WDAF-TV)

Xavier Cunningham at the hospital after he had the meat skewer removed from his face. (WDAF-TV)

Shannon Miller said it was a miracle his son survived the fall and his face being punctured by a skewer. (WDAF-TV)

(FOX NEWS) - A Missouri father said his 10-year-old son is lucky to be alive after the child was impaled by a 12-inch metal meat skewer when he fell from a tree house.

Xavier Cunningham was climbing up a tree house with his friends in Harrisonville Saturday when a swarm of yellow jackets began attacking them, his father Shannon Miller told WDAF-TV. Xavier, while being bombarded by the wasps, fell 4 feet from the ladder to the ground — landing face first on a meat skewer that was sticking out of the ground.

"He could've bled to death in that field, covered in yellow jackets," Miller said of his son. "He was more upset about the yellow jackets than he was about the metal piece sticking out of his face.”

The skewer punctured Xavier’s face and nearly went through the back of his head. But it managed to miss his brain, the father said.