FORT WORTH, Texas – After surgery Saturday evening, a boy injured when he fell down a well was said to be awake Sunday morning.

Jaxon Tune, 9, suffered a fractured skull after striking his head on the side of a sandstone-lined well during a fall of approximately 35 to 40 feet, family friend Crystal Mann told the Mineral Wells Index. He underwent surgery at Cooks Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth following the accident, which happened around 3:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon near the Mineral Wells Municipal Airport.

“They said it wasn’t looking good,” Mann said. “However, with God’s help and many prayers the update is that he is awake, and said he was hungry and watching TV.”

The well, in front of a reportedly abandoned home, was covered with thin pieces of tin and rain-soaked and weathered boards that gave way when Jaxon, who was playing in the area, stood on top of it.

Mann thanked Christopher Hicks, a neighbor who was moving into a new residence adjacent to the property with the well and who helped rescue Jaxon. Hicks grabbed a long strap and used it to lower himself into the well to reach the boy, who had managed to resurface from the cold, deep water after his fall and cling to some stones while awaiting help.

Mineral Wells Police Officer Dustin Holden also assisted in the rescue, lowering himself to a position where he was able to get another strap around the child and take him from Hicks. The child was then lifted the rest of the way from the well by emergency personnel.

Mann referred to Hicks, 41, as Tune’s “angel.”

May writes for the Mineral Wells (Texas) Index.