A blessing to pubescent school kids. A curse to everyone else in locker rooms and afternoon public transport. And now, a potential restorative: a family in the UK credits a whiff of Lynx body spray with awakening their son from a three-week coma.

Metro reports that 13-year-old Kacper Krauze was paddling in Cumbria‘s frigid River Eden when he plunged into the icy waters.

An onlooker called emergency services after seeing Kacper struggle in the water. His family were notified and rushed to the scene but could not locate their son.

Wioletta Krauze, the boy’s mother, said it took a firefighter to retrieve Kacper from the waters. “He had been in the water for a really, really long time,” she told Metro. “He had drowned.”

While being airlifted to hospital, paramedics used electric shocks to retrieve the boy’s pulse. Despite that life-saving measure, Kacper remained unconscious. He was eventually transferred to the ICU of Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital.

For three weeks, Kacper’s family stayed by his side. A nurse eventually suggested Wioletta bring in some of Kacper’s personal effects, like his own toiletries. She did, and decided to pack one of her son’s preferred Lynx sprays.

That’s when the olfactory magic happened.

“As soon as I spayed the Lynx he opened his eyes immediately,” Wioletta said, adding “We had tried so hard to get him to wake up from his coma.

“We had played music, we had spent hours talking to him. But in the end it was the Lynx which did it.”

Kacper is reportedly working to regain his previous speech capabilities and the full use of his right hand, but has otherwise made a stunning recovery.

Speaking on his unique experience, Kacper thanked the Great North Air Ambulance for their genuinely life-saving work. He also gave a serious shout-out to Lynx for keeping him smelling fresh, and for, you know, potentially kickstarting his return to consciousness.

“I will continue to wear it now, always. It’s my lucky charm,” he said.

There has been some research into therapeutic use of strong odours for comatose patients, and some health care facilities have incorporated the use of smells into their treatments.

None, however, have utilised supermarket body sprays marketed at sweaty teens, and it is yet to be seen if specialists resort to a spritz of Africa as part of their routines.