Sometimes there are those stories you just can’t explain. A boy in Missouri fell through an ice covered lake and was reportedly taken to the hospital without a pulse. But when he got to the hospital, what happened next seemingly defies explanation.
14-year-old John Smith of Dubuque, Iowa had been underwater for 15 minutes before he was pulled out of the icy depths. It was thought he was dead. But his mother had other ideas…
When rescuers arrived to Missouri’s Lake Sainte Louise on Jan. 19 after reports that three 14-year-old boys had fallen through the ice, John Smith had already been underwater for 15 minutes.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports he was taken to a hospital with no pulse, and while his companions were treated for hypothermia, staff performed CPR on John for 27 minutes.
“He was dead for 45 minutes,” Dr. Kent Sutterer tells KSDK. There was a “very poor chance of survival.” But when the doctor called John’s mom into the room, “she started praying loudly,” he says.
Adds Joyce Smith, “I don’t remember what all I said. But I remember, ‘Holy God, please send your Holy Spirit to save my son.’ … All of a sudden I heard them saying, ‘We got a pulse, we got a pulse.'” Today, John’s brain function is normal and he’s at home walking and talking like any other teenager, KSDK reports.
The boy is now getting physical therapy and seems to be in the road to recovery.