When a miracle was our only hope

Doctors said James shouldn’t be alive, but thanks to a miracle when his heart, lungs and kidneys were failing he is here to tell the story of God’s healing power

James had been feeling breathless for a month. GPs put it down to a chest infection or early-onset dementia, but he and his wife Amy were convinced it was more serious.

Their persistence seeking answers paid off when James had a chest X-ray. But then their world turned upside down.

“The doctor said we had to go to A&E immediately. The X-ray showed James had pneumonia and fluid on his lungs. They suspected a blood clot too,” says Amy.

“He had a CT scan the next day and within half an hour we were surrounded by five cardiologists asking about his heart. We were confused and asked about his lungs.

“‘No,’ they said. ‘His aorta is split in two.’”

Aortic dissection is a life-or-death situation, explains Amy. Fifty per cent of people with the condition die immediately, and of those still alive after 48 hours, 50 per cent do not survive.

Open-heart surgery

At Glenfield Hospital in Leicester near their home close to Melton Mowbray, James was rushed in for open-heart surgery. Not believing he would survive, he told Amy his funeral was paid for. “We weren’t full of faith,” she says. “You hear about Christians who say, ‘We believe God will heal,’ but that wasn’t us at that point. We were in shock. James had pneumonia, fluid on his lungs and was overweight. We thought he was going to die.”

During the six-hour operation to reconstruct James’ aorta from a vein in his leg, Amy waited and prayed. But seven-and-a-half hours later she was still waiting.

Major complications had occurred and the surgeons couldn’t close James’ chest, she was told. He’d lost six pints of blood and was expected to lose more. His kidneys weren’t functioning and he might need dialysis. An artery had torn, requiring risky reconstruction for which James was put into hypothermia to stop blood flowing to all organs except his brain. He had a 50 per cent chance of survival, they said.

“I just prayed, ‘God, you’re going to have to do a miracle,’” Amy, an Elim minister says.

Coma miracle

The next morning, Amy asked if James had bled overnight. He hadn’t. His kidneys were functioning and he hadn’t needed dialysis.

She felt her faith began to grow. In the days before a second operation to close an unconscious James’ chest, she prayed, worshipped and read Scriptures over him.

Here, James picks up the story to tell of another miracle during his week-long induced coma.

“I’d been a Christian for years but had always found the idea of angels a bit much,” he says. “God has a sense of humour, though, because I saw two of them beside me while I was unconscious. I was boiling hot, but an angel on my right touched the side of my face and I was instantly cool.”

Sat at James’s bedside, Amy could see this taking place.

“He was so hot the staff had taken everything but a small blanket off him. They were doing all they could and putting cold cloths on his forehead, but they couldn’t reach his face,” she says. “Then he became so cool they had to warm him back up!”

James adds: “The surgeons told me that no one could go near my face because there were 15 tubes either side of it.”

Total healing

After six days James was still in a coma and on a ventilator. “The surgeons said that with his pneumonia and the fluid on his lungs he wouldn’t be able to breath on his own and needed a tracheostomy,” explains Amy, “but I was reluctant. I told them I believed in a God who heals, that people had been praying and I believed he would be able to breathe for himself.

“My background is in prayer ministry and I work for NHS England, which gave me the faith and confidence to say this.”

James was taken off the ventilator and within hours, Amy saw the miracle she’d been believing for.

“He had an oxygen mask over his face at first, then just a tube in his nose, then that same day he was breathing on his own and eating yogurt!

“After three days in intensive care they taught him how to walk and talk again and in two weeks he was able to come home. God had healed him completely!”

James’ speedy recovery astonished his medical team. “My surgeon said he’d never heard of someone with the conditions I had surviving this. That I shouldn’t be here,” he says.

Sharing hope James was looking forward to getting back to his hobby of training his birds of prey, but felt God challenge him: “Don’t keep your story to yourself.” Now he’s working with a friend to write a book about his experience.

Amy is also keen to share the hope found in his story.

“Being able to say God is in this when the medics are saying things look bad is a testimony we want to share,” she says. “Whatever you’re going through, God is with you and will come through for you. Hold onto faith and believe he can do miracles – we’ve seen it.”

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.