Posted on 07/15/2026 6:03:45 PM PDT by TexasKamaAina
A 28-year-old Pensacola Navy veteran is getting a second chance to celebrate his favorite holiday this 4th of July.
Just a few weeks ago, Ethan Preseau's family was planning his funeral.
But now, the family is celebrating something they feared they'd never see -- his recovery.
"It's not supposed to be the father burying the child," father Jeffrey Preseau said. "It's supposed to be the other way around."
The funeral was planned, the American flag was folded, and Ethan's family -- and nurses -- lined the hallways of Baptist Hospital.
They were ready for Ethan's honor walk -- a tradition held for patients declared brain dead. A final farewell before organ donation.
"When they did the brain MRI, the MRI showed that the thalamus was black and dead," stepmother Denice Preseau said. "So we had absolutely no hope."
At the beginning of June, Ethan and his girlfriend Piper Wade moved to Pensacola to build a life. The couple was moving in.
Ethan went to get suitcases from the truck. When he didn't come back inside, Piper went to check on him.
That's when she found him lifeless on the ground.
"You don't want to see someone that you love in that state," Piper said. "So I just freaked out and I immediately -- I don't know CPR, but I understand what it is, so I tried to do that for a second. But I realized I don't know what I'm doing, so I ran inside as fast as possible and I called 911 and they were there so fast. Maybe in like 30 seconds they were there."
Ethan was rushed to the hospital. Doctor's told the family he had an infection in his heart.
As the days went by, his family started losing hope.
Piper had one request: give Ethan 10 days -- a fighting chance.
On the final day, the nurses took Ethan off of life support and his family said goodbye.
"We wanted to do it together," Piper said. "And I was like, I don't know how I'm going to go from like, I just wanted to start a life with someone to now all of that is gone, you know? It's like having like the rug just taken out from under you."
But then, a phone call from the hospital changed everything.
"When we walked in and saw that, I immediately got the nurse. ... And he's like, 'Well, maybe he's just doing this movement, you know, from this and that,'" Jeffrey said. "And it was so funny. He came in. He's like, 'Ethan, Ethan, stick your tongue out for me.' And he goes and stuck his tongue out and he turned and looked at me and his eyes was the size of silver dollars. And he's like, 'Hold on, I got to go get two nurses to witness this.' So the two nurses he got were two of the nurses that did the honor walk with us. And he came in, asked him the same thing, stick out his tongue, and they started crying. They're like, 'Oh my gosh, this is a miracle.'"
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
My advance directive specifies I’m taking everything with me.
I’ll keep being worth more alive than dead.
Cue Miracle Max
Faulty diagnosis hardly constitutes a miracle.
Good thing he wasn’t cremated.
Just check the box and prove you’re “brain dead” already!
Are you going to be okay?
My physician tells me I am going to die. Probably sometime in the next 30 years, more likely 15 or 20. She told me to have some fun in the meantime, and even suggested we could do it together.
agree
like too many likes man
“Prayer works especially when it is pointed at someone else.”
Interesting to hear you say that. I always wondered if it was selfish to pray for yourself and your own health. We’re prayer warriors for other people with no question.
Medical science has never been exact. I’ve often discussed how do you know a supposed brain dead or comatose individual is really brain dead or comatose or do they actually know ever that’s going on but can’t react in any way. That would be horrifying for the individual. Same with alzheimer’s and dementia patients. Maybe they know everything that’s going on but they have no control oftheir actions, words etc that come out.
“Avoid checking off the organ donor box on the DL”
I just had mine renewed, and did not check the organ donor box. But I figure there’s a 99% chance that would be ignored if they could make a few buck off of selling my guts. Who would know the difference? Nobody.
“Good thing he wasn’t an organ donor.”
Wouldn’t matter. They’d harvest what they wanted anyhow. Nobody would be the wiser — certainly not him.
The Lord was not finished with him yet.
It is not selfish. When you pray for yourself, the Lord knows your motivations and if your requests match his design, he will grant your request.
Good thing it wasn’t days after!
Was his skin cold to the touch?
Was his skin cold to the touch?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.