A Missouri teen who fell through the ice and was dead for 45 minutes made a "miracle recovery" after a prayer from his mother.
John Smith, 14, was with two other 14-year-old boys when the three fell into the icy waters of Lake Sainte Louis on Jan. 19. Although the other two boys were easily rescued, emergency crews
couldn’t find Smith for 15 minutes, KSDK reported.
Dr. Ken Sutterer, who was in the ER when Smith arrived, said he believed Smith had a poor chance of survival from the moment he came in. The ER team performed CPR for 27 minutes with no response from Smith, and they were determining how long to continue.
Suttererer told KSDK that he brought Smith’s mother, Joyce Smith, into the room.
“She started praying loudly," he said.
"I don't remember what all I said," Joyce Smith shared with the station. "But I remember, 'Holy God, please send your Holy Spirit to save my son. I want my son, please save him.' And they hadn't been getting a pulse at that time, so all of a sudden I heard them saying, 'We got a pulse, we got a pulse.'"
Sutterer said it was just a minute or so before the boy’s heart started. He was so moved by the experience he wrote a letter, processing what happened. Reading from it, he said, “His heart was jumpstarted by the Holy Spirit listening to the request of his praying mother.”
Not only did Smith live, but his recovery has been surprising, as well. The boy was life-flighted to the SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center, and Dr. Jeremy Garrett said it was unclear how the tragedy had affected Smith’s brain function.
Within 48 hours, the boy was opening his eyes, responding to questions, and performing what Garrett told KSDK was a “bonafide miracle.”
A post from Living Word Christian School, where Smith attends school, said Smith was released from the hospital Wednesday
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