first time this had ever been done, 2006, after a mining explosion. 12 minors died, only one, randy mccloysurvived. but his brain was badly damaged. his team of doctors, including barry seers figured this. 30% of the brain is composed of omega 3 fatty acids. giving him a dose of fish oil might restore function. dr. julian bails was mccloy's nurro surgeon. >> the concept was then trying to rebuild his brain with what it was made from when he was embryo in his mother's womb. >> rebuild his brain? >> yes. we gave him a very high unprecedented dose to make sure we saturated and got high levels in the brain. >> i'd just like to thank everybody for their thoughts and prayers. >> reporter: after the fish oil, mccloy made a dramatic, full recovery. the science is not clear. there have been no large studies and it didn't always seem to work. but despite that, grant virgin's family, a combination of desperate and determined decided to give it a try. >> i don't want to wait 20 years to do a bunch more studies to prove it works. i don't need that. >> reporter: grant was given 20 grams of fish oil per

even more than randy mccloy got.n december 2012, nine weeks after his accident, and only two days after starting high-dose fish oil therapy, grant virgin made a phone call. >> it was unbelievable. a couple of days of giving him the fish oil, he now is talking in sentences. >> reporter: in time, grant became more animated, and soon, he was walking. >> yeah, we'll do it starting with january. >> january, february, march -- >> reporter: here is grant. a year after fearly dying, a year after his family was told to let him go. >> grant virgin. i'm 17. at some point, i'm going to be 18. yeah. >> reporter: he is doi ining everything doctors said he wouldn't. now, we'd be remiss if we didn't mention that some of the proponents of omega-3s as an intervention, including dr. bales you met in the piece, do receive money from fish oil companies, but they also say, look, the case studies are stacking up, proving that this could work in at least some patients. >>> coming up, fish in your vegetables. bacteria in your corn. you heard

only one survived, randy mccloy, but his brain was badly damaged.ing barry sears, figured this, about 30% of the brain is composed of omega 3 fatty acids. giving him a large dose of fish oil might restore function. >> yeah, i'd just like to thank everybody for their thoughts and prayers. >> after the fish oil, he made a dramatic, full recovery. the science is not clear. there have been no large studies, and it didn't always seem to work. but despite that, grant virgin's family, a combination of desperate and determined, decided to give it a try. >> i don't want to wait 20 years, while they do a bunch more studies to prove it really works. i don't need that. >> grant was given 20 grams of fish oil per day through his feeding tube, even more than randy mccloy got. in december of 2012, nine weeks after his accident and only two days after starting high dose fish oil therapy, grant virgin made a phone call. >> it was unbelievable, a couple days into giving him the fish oil, he now is talking in sentences. >> in time, grant became more animated. and soon

. >> grant was given 20 grams of fish oil per day through his feeding tube, even more than randy mccloyine weeks after his accident and only two days after starting high dose fish oil therapy, grant virgin made a phone call. >> it was unbelievable, a couple days into giving him the fish oil, he now is talking in sentences. >> in time, grant became more animated. and soon, he was walking. >> starting with january. >> january, february -- >> here is grant, a year after nearly dying, a year after his family was told to let him go. >> grant virgin, i'm 17. going to be 18. he is doing everything doctors said he wouldn't. >> it's incredible. so far there are no large-scale studies on the effectiveness of omega 3, but trials are imminent. a lot of people will be watching for results. dr. sanjay gupta joins me now. how is grant doing today? >> just about everything that they told him, the doctors told his family that he wouldn't be able to do, he's now doing. it's extraordinary. and again, the er doctors had told his family to let him go. he's now running, he's speaking. he's made leaps and bou