A 25-year-old man suffering from autism was found alive in the woods of Wisconsin Sunday a week after he had disappeared from the Trade Lake Camp in Grantsburg.

Keith Kennedy of Shoreview, Minn., was one of the 13 campers who arrived for the week. Besides autism, he was also on anti-rejection drugs for his transplant in 1995. In fact, this was one of the reasons the searchers believed he might not survive a week without the drugs he needed. They also feared he would not respond if called because he only knew four words.

Fortunately, he was found on Sunday around 7 p.m. about a mile from the camp, in a wooded area inaccessible by vehicles, laying next to a creek bed on swampy ground. His body was covered in ticks and mosquito bites and had scratches all over.

Cindi Throngard, a volunteer in the search said Kennedy was dehydrated and his body temperature was a little low, but, overall, nothing serious, the Associated Press reported. Kennedy was immediately taken to the University of Minnesota hospital in the Twin Cities.

Burnett County Sheriff Dean Roland said Kennedy “is one tough kid” given the circumstances. “We’ll probably never know how he survived.”

One reason might be the weather that was on his side the whole week with temperatures between 75 and 80 degrees.

Kennedy’s mother, Linda was very emotional to learn her son was alive just when she was ready to give up the thought of ever finding him. She called the happy event a “miracle” saying, “it was an unbelievable shock,” the Minneapolis Star Tribune quoted her.

Camp staffers believe Kennedy walked away from the camp out of fear of getting in trouble after sneaking into the cafeteria to get some popcorn, which he liked very much. In two years, he had never done anything to make staffers believe he might wander away, Throngard said.