Miracles We Have Seen
Page 2
The Power of a Mother’s Touch Alan R. Spitzer
A tiny premature baby with lung disease seemed to be improving when suddenly he took a terrible turn for the worse. Unable to get enough oxygen into his system despite maximum support in the intensive care unit, his doctor prepared the baby’s parents for his inevitable death and let the mother touch her baby one last time.
Chapter 3. BREATHTAKING RESUSCITATIONS
A Spirit of Calm, an Aura of Awe Frank Maffei, Richard L. Lambert
A twenty-two-month-old infant went missing and was found thirty minutes later, facedown in an icy stream. After almost two hours of resuscitation attempts, recovery of his brain and vital organs would require more than his doctors alone could offer.
The Miracle of Teamwork Paul A. Skudder
Suffering a severe heart attack on a snowy mountain on a frigid day, this man desperately needed an intensive care unit if he was to have any chance for survival.
A Good Samaritan Repaid Fred M. Henretig
After an adult volunteer in a children’s hospital collapsed without a detectable heartbeat, more than an hour of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) failed. That’s when a visiting young trainee made a suggestion.
Please, God, I Have So Much More to Do Benjamin Honigman
A high school athlete collapsed and appeared dead on the running track, not breathing and without a pulse. Indeed, he may well have actually died there, as well as at several other moments later that day.
A Bona Fide Miracle Jeremy Garrett
After more than forty-five minutes without a pulse despite a heroic rescue and prolonged CPR, this teen’s family was called in to say good-bye. Then his mother loudly prayed for a miracle.
She Pointed Up to Heaven Michael Fleischer
When the new mother suffered a cardiac arrest following an uneventful caesarean delivery, doctors finally had to give up after more than forty-five minutes of CPR without the hint of a pulse and three hours without adequate blood pressure. After saying their good-byes, the woman’s family left her bedside in tears, holding hands and deep in prayer.
Chapter 4. EXTRAORDINARY AWAKENINGS
A Miraculous Smile Rodney E. Willoughby
In a coma for more than four months, there was little hope this teenager would ever recover from the tragic medication error that left her neurologically devastated. Then, the doctor whispered something in her ear.
As if Nothing Much Had Ever Happened Alan R. Spitzer
When a two-year-old child began losing consciousness and then lapsed into coma, the cause was determined to be a rare type of brain infection from which full recovery is virtually unheard of. The months of coma that followed only deepened everyone’s despair.
A Blonde Blur John W. Ogle
A drastic fall in blood pressure during a routine surgical procedure left a two-year-old girl in shock with a severe brain injury and no normal neurological findings. That was only the beginning of the complications she would suffer in the coming weeks. But everything changed on December 24.
The Lazarus Child Mary P. Glode
“Back from the dead” is how this physician described the incredible awakening of a nine-year-old boy after a baffling brain infection. The child’s greeting to the medical team on rounds, after weeks in a coma, is one they’ll never forget.
A Mother’s Voice, a Husband’s Devotion, a Patient’s Courage Anthony Suchman
After she suffered a massive stroke, this schoolteacher’s brain damage was feared to be insurmountable. Then she heard her mother’s voice on the phone.
The Squeeze Harley A. Rotbart
Two young brothers, near-drowning victims, were hospitalized after a heroic rescue by the older brother of the younger. The younger brother recovered quickly, but the older one was not as fortunate. After weeks in a coma, just as discussions of brain death and plans for termination of care began, a physician-in-training felt something astonishing.
A Vacation Like No Other Richard Westcott
This man’s asbestos-related cancer spread from inside his chest all the way through his ribs and onto his breast. With his condition deteriorating badly, his wife decided they needed a getaway from all the doctors and treatments. Their visit to a monastery on a Mediterranean island changed their lives.
The Whoosh of the Ventilator Mary Anne Jackson
A newborn baby developed severe respiratory failure, unresponsive to the most aggressive intensive care. As the medical staff and family prepared to withdraw the child’s breathing support, they put her on her mother’s lap for a final good-bye.
A Silent Miracle Christopher Stille
An eight-year-old child was found to have a huge tumor in her abdomen originating from, and still attached to, her spinal cord. This could only mean one thing, and it was bad.
When “Alternative” Becomes the Only Alternative David M. Polaner
A two-year-old girl was dying of respiratory failure despite receiving the maximum breathing support her doctors could provide with medicines and machines. Then her mother asked if she could call in a Chinese healer.
It’s Alive! Robert J. Buys
A man suddenly lost his vision from a blockage in the main artery in his eye, a condition that almost always results in permanent blindness. What his doctors saw, however, haunts them to this day.
The Short Discharge Summary Joann N. Bodurtha
A mysterious illness caused an eighteen-month-old baby to nearly shrivel away. His debilitated state left him in total body failure, stranded in a storm on a remote Native American reservation, twelve hours from the nearest hospital that could be expected to provide adequate care.
A Limp Dish Rag Adrienne Weiss-Harrison
A teenager arrived in her doctor’s office with a high fever and signs of severe infection. None of her caregivers could explain what happened within the next few minutes.
Whatever the Outcome, It Will Be Okay David Kimberlin
Their daughter had a dread fungus infection complicating her leukemia. The fungus invaded her eye and her brain, inevitably an incurable condition. But that’s not how they chose to see it.
The Self-Healing Heart Eugenia Raichlin
A pharmacy student developed a severe heart condition for which a heart transplant was his only hope. Just as a donor heart became available, he became infected with bacteria in his blood that would make transplantation impossible.
The Power of a Mother’s Touch Alan R. Spitzer
A tiny premature baby with lung disease seemed to be improving when suddenly he took a terrible turn for the worse. Unable to get enough oxygen into his system despite maximum support in the intensive care unit, his doctor prepared the baby’s parents for his inevitable death and let the mother touch her baby one last time.
Chapter 3. BREATHTAKING RESUSCITATIONS
A Spirit of Calm, an Aura of Awe Frank Maffei, Richard L. Lambert
A twenty-two-month-old infant went missing and was found thirty minutes later, facedown in an icy stream. After almost two hours of resuscitation attempts, recovery of his brain and vital organs would require more than his doctors alone could offer.
The Miracle of Teamwork Paul A. Skudder
Suffering a severe heart attack on a snowy mountain on a frigid day, this man desperately needed an intensive care unit if he was to have any chance for survival.
A Good Samaritan Repaid Fred M. Henretig
After an adult volunteer in a children’s hospital collapsed without a detectable heartbeat, more than an hour of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) failed. That’s when a visiting young trainee made a suggestion.
Please, God, I Have So Much More to Do Benjamin Honigman
A high school athlete collapsed and appeared dead on the running track, not breathing and without a pulse. Indeed, he may well have actually died there, as well as at several o
ther moments later that day.
A Bona Fide Miracle Jeremy Garrett
After more than forty-five minutes without a pulse despite a heroic rescue and prolonged CPR, this teen’s family was called in to say good-bye. Then his mother loudly prayed for a miracle.
She Pointed Up to Heaven Michael Fleischer
When the new mother suffered a cardiac arrest following an uneventful caesarean delivery, doctors finally had to give up after more than forty-five minutes of CPR without the hint of a pulse and three hours without adequate blood pressure. After saying their good-byes, the woman’s family left her bedside in tears, holding hands and deep in prayer.
Chapter 4. EXTRAORDINARY AWAKENINGS
A Miraculous Smile Rodney E. Willoughby
In a coma for more than four months, there was little hope this teenager would ever recover from the tragic medication error that left her neurologically devastated. Then, the doctor whispered something in her ear.
As if Nothing Much Had Ever Happened Alan R. Spitzer
When a two-year-old child began losing consciousness and then lapsed into coma, the cause was determined to be a rare type of brain infection from which full recovery is virtually unheard of. The months of coma that followed only deepened everyone’s despair.
A Blonde Blur John W. Ogle
A drastic fall in blood pressure during a routine surgical procedure left a two-year-old girl in shock with a severe brain injury and no normal neurological findings. That was only the beginning of the complications she would suffer in the coming weeks. But everything changed on December 24.
The Lazarus Child Mary P. Glode
“Back from the dead” is how this physician described the incredible awakening of a nine-year-old boy after a baffling brain infection. The child’s greeting to the medical team on rounds, after weeks in a coma, is one they’ll never forget.
A Mother’s Voice, a Husband’s Devotion, a Patient’s Courage Anthony Suchman
After she suffered a massive stroke, this schoolteacher’s brain damage was feared to be insurmountable. Then she heard her mother’s voice on the phone.
The Squeeze Harley A. Rotbart
Two young brothers, near-drowning victims, were hospitalized after a heroic rescue by the older brother of the younger. The younger brother recovered quickly, but the older one was not as fortunate. After weeks in a coma, just as discussions of brain death and plans for termination of care began, a physician-in-training felt something astonishing.
Chapter 5. UNIMAGINABLE DISASTERS
Free Fall—If You’re a Believer in Miracles, This Would Be One Philip S. Barie
Nearly 100 percent of people who fall from a height of ten stories are killed by the fall—they don’t even survive long enough to reach the hospital. When the emergency call came about a Manhattan window washer who had fallen forty-seven stories, there was no hope whatsoever.
Decapitated Richard Roberts
The devastating car accident caused this nine-year-old boy to suffer the unthinkable: a complete separation of his skull from his spinal column. Survival from this type of injury is less than 1 percent, and survival without neurological damage is almost unheard of.
When Lightning Struck James K. Todd
A lightning strike left a six-year-old girl with seizures that could only be controlled with a medically induced coma, which in turn suppressed her ability to breathe. Brain damage was inevitable as a result of the seizures, the coma, and the lack of oxygen to the brain.
Shrapnel—I Knew He Had Lost His Eye Robert J. Buys
A large metal shard exploded off the axe his grandfather was using and lodged in this twelve-year-old boy’s eye. The metal punctured the cornea at the front of eye and went all the way through the retina in back.
Shredded Valerie Pruitt
Every part of this ten-year-old girl’s little body seemed to have been chopped to pieces when she fell off a boat and became caught up in the propeller. No one had ever heard of survival in a case like this.
Kidnapped: The Story of Two Three-Year-Olds Richard D. Krugman
A kidnapped child was sexually abused and left to drown in the well of an outhouse in the woods. But for the chance convergence of two highly unlikely events, she would have. Her story, and that of her kidnapper, illuminate the disparate outcomes of child abuse.
Chapter 6. MYSTERIOUS PRESENCE
The Boy Who Saw Heaven Joanne Hilden
Dying from an incurable form of cancer, a five-year-old boy had a remarkable vision, unmistakable to this cancer specialist and the other caregivers in the room, just before taking his last breath.
The Man All Dressed in White Kathleen Farrell
A two-year-old child was saved from drowning in the deep end of a swimming pool by his five-year-old cousin. The cousin, although unable to swim herself, dove into the pool and pulled the little boy to safety. The reason she gave for performing such an extraordinary act of courage stunned everyone who heard it.
A Sea of Blood Matthew A. Metz
As a young physician-in-training, this surgeon witnessed a patient’s impossible-to-control bleeding on the operating room table. When all the senior physicians in the room were ready to give up, unable to find the catastrophically leaking blood vessel, the trainee asked if he could try. All he can say now is it wasn’t his hand alone that stopped the bleeding.
The Miracle Within Us David Slamowitz
A medical student caring for a woman with excruciating pain discovered what he already suspected—there’s a lot out there in medicine that goes beyond science and textbooks.
Witnessing the Unknown Meredith Belber
An elderly woman with a terminal condition seemed to be communicating with someone in the room no one else could see—and following his instructions.
Chapter 7. GLOBAL MIRACLES
The Miracle of a Single Sentence Frank O. Richards Jr.
On a coffee plantation on the side of a volcano in Guatemala was an impoverished village with epidemic levels of a dread parasitic infection that caused blindness. It was there that a villager’s single sentence changed this physician’s career.
The Miracle in the Middle Mark F. Cotton
Born too late to receive lifesaving medicines in a research trial, and too early to receive medicines from the government, this baby with AIDS, in one of the most impoverished villages of South Africa, had little chance of survival.
When the Student Is Ready, the Teacher Appears David Addiss
In a country where parasitic diseases are legion, this particular worm wreaked havoc on individuals’ lives and entire villages. The best treatments aide workers had to offer weren’t working—until a very special interaction with one villager enlightened them.
Chapter 8. MIRACLES IN THEIR OWN TIME
President Kennedy’s Baby—Born Too Soon for the Miracle Richard Johnston Jr.
Miracles can’t be called forth on demand—even if you’re the most powerful man in the world. This physician offers a firsthand account of President John F. and Jackie Kennedy’s tragic experience with their prematurely born son, with reflection on what it means for everyone involved when miracles don’t occur in a timely way.
Battlefield Miracles, from Generation to Generation Paul A. Skudder
A young soldier’s experiences in World War II changed his life and paved the way for the treatment of another young soldier two generations later.
Safe to Sleep Henry Sondheimer
Witnessing an impending case of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in a remote Native American hospital before the baby had a chance to die, this physician’s experience foretold the future of this dread disease.
The Vitamin That Worked Wonders Mortimer Poncz
A newborn dying of malnutrition and heart failure was discovered to have a rare condition that resulted in death or severe brain damage
in all children previously known with the same problem.
The Thirty-Year Miracle Kenneth G. Adams
Some miracles are slow to evolve, a mix of inspiration and perspiration. Contrasting what we know now to what we knew years ago reveals miraculous progress in our understanding of health and disease.
A Miracle in Its Day, and Then Another Mark F. Cotton
In a time and place before treatment for AIDS was available, a baby with AIDS developed life-threatening blockage of his airway. His treatment broke new ground and his miracle led to another, which in turn changed the way all AIDS babies were treated in Africa.
With a Little Help from My Friends David Spiegel
A woman with metastatic breast cancer enrolled in group psychotherapy as part of a clinical trial, meeting regularly with others suffering from the same brutal illness. The outcomes of all of the women in the group defied conventional medical wisdom, and remind us of the healing power of the mind and the impact of emotional support.
Chapter 9. PAYING IT FORWARD
Sharing the Miracle of Hope Trevor J. Bayliss
For a college freshman diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia, a dangerous bone marrow transplant was his only hope. But before the transplant could occur, he clinically deteriorated, making the transplant itself impossible. His last hope now gone, he was given only weeks to live.
A Disappearing Tumor Becomes a Source of Hope for Many Bradley A. George
For this worried family, surgery seemed to be the best option for their two-year-old son’s potentially malignant tumor. But between Atlanta and San Francisco, something extraordinary happened. Then the real miracles began.
Helping Create Miracles for Babies of the Future Richard F. Jacobs
Parents seeking more than their own baby’s recovery invigorated and inspired this physician through the generosity of their human spirit.
Making Miracles for Others Celia I. Kaye
A baby was born with an impossibly long list of problems, the greatest of which was an inability to tolerate feedings. By several months of age, she was failing, close to death.