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Seeing is Believing that Miracles Do Happen
CantonRep.com ^ | January 5, 2003 | Bob Russ

Posted on 01/07/2003 10:40:31 AM PST by NYer

Do you believe in miracles?

A cardiologist at Ohio State University does now.

What other explanation is there for what happened to Carla Bailey? A month ago, doctors told her she’d be dead by the end of the year.

Her heart was failing. She was barely alive. Another condition, lupus, made prospects of a transplant unlikely.

On Dec. 10, the Gahanna, Ohio, resident’s heart was functioning at 16 percent. It was just a matter of time, doctors told her. And not much time, either.

Four days later, a program was held in her honor at her church. That night, Bailey said, “I got this heavy feeling in my heart.”

When doctors checked again, her heart’s function had improved to 57 percent. Overnight.

Her heart apparently healed itself.

After seven months in the Ohio State University Medical Center, Bailey came home in time for Christmas.

Dr. Philip Binkley, an OSU cardiologist, said doctors shun the word “miracle,” but said, “It does feel miraculous. We still don’t understand how a heart decreased that severely improves.”

Bailey understands. It was God, she said.

I’m sure there are plenty of skeptics, but I’m not one of them.

I’ve seen a few miracles myself.

My daughter, Mary, heads the list. I had been married a year when doctors said my wife would never be able to have children. Twelve years later, my wife told me she thought she might be pregnant. I laughed, but we made a doctor’s appointment anyway, just in case.

The doctor called a few days early; there’d been a cancellation, did we want to come in now?

So in we went, with no clue as to how important that cancellation would be.

Our expectations were low. So we were stunned when the doctor said that yes, my wife was pregnant.

Before that could even sink in, however, the doctor had disturbing news. The baby was being born. Now.

Two hours after we learned of our child’s existence, our child was coming into the world. We rushed to the hospital where a cervical cerclage was performed; the uterus was sewn shut to keep the infant from being born.

But two days later, my wife’s water broke, and the cerclage had to be undone. A day later, on July 19, 1991, Mary Alice Russ was born — almost 4 1/2 months early.

Doctors argued whether it was even worth the effort to try to save her. They didn’t argue about one thing, though — they all agreed it would take a miracle for her to survive.

Mary weighed a mere 1 pound, 5 ounces at birth. She was 11 inches long; smaller than a Barbie doll. Her eyes were fused shut. Her hands and feet were the size of my smallest fingernail.

And it wasn’t long before her condition worsened. Her breathing became more labored. Her weight dropped to 1 pound 2 ounces. All of the dozens of machines and medicines that were barely keeping her alive were slowly losing the battle.

She had surgery to repair a leaky valve on her heart — her only chance, even though doctors feared she wouldn’t survive the operation.

Somehow she pulled through and, for a while, was improving. Then came another turn for the worse. At one point, a doctor told us there was nothing more they could do. He said my daughter had maybe a day to live.

Another doctor, though, told us there was once last hope — an experimental steroid treatment that offered only a remote chance of success, and at great cost. There would be a trade-off, we were warned. She might be blind or deaf, or severely brain-damaged. Even in the unlikely event Mary survived, we were told, odds were she’d never live anything resembling a normal life.

Today, my daughter is 11, in the sixth grade and, except for the unfortunate fact that she looks a lot like her dad, is pretty much like any other kid.

I look at her, and I don’t have to wonder. I know.

Miracles are real.


TOPICS: Activism/Chapters; Culture/Society; Extended News; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: Ohio
KEYWORDS: belief; faith; heart; miracles
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Any freepers who have been blessed by a miracle? Here's an opportunity to post your story.
1 posted on 01/07/2003 10:40:31 AM PST by NYer
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To: .45MAN; AKA Elena; Angelus Errare; Aquinasfan; Aristophanes; ArrogantBustard; Askel5; Barnacle; ...
Miraculous FAITH bump!
2 posted on 01/07/2003 10:42:39 AM PST by NYer (I believe in miracles.)
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To: NYer
whoop t do - a bump for you. God Bless,
3 posted on 01/07/2003 10:48:41 AM PST by ex-snook
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To: NYer
Your story brought tears to my eyes. God bless you, your wife, and your precious daughter.
4 posted on 01/07/2003 10:51:07 AM PST by bigfootbob
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To: NYer
Prayer is powerful!!!!!! I believe.
5 posted on 01/07/2003 10:55:50 AM PST by Patrick
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To: NYer
I wonder about that lady's heart pumping at 57% efficiency. It might be a misprint on the original. Larry Holmes' heart, for example, when in training for the Mike Tyson fight, was at 55% and, according to doctors, is the maximum efficiency rate that any heart can achieve.

Be that as it may, I DO believe in miracles. In 1988 I had triple bypass surgery. Early in 2001 my bypasses shut down. The doctors are puzzled as to why I am still alive.

6 posted on 01/07/2003 10:56:33 AM PST by PatriotGames
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To: PatriotGames
" Mike Tyson fight, was at 55% and, according to doctors, is the maximum efficiency rate that any heart can achieve. "

I know my stupidity is about to show, but if 55% is the maximum performance possible, then where do they get the 100%? Maybe they need to lower the bar and re-assign the 100% level to reality.

7 posted on 01/07/2003 11:17:15 AM PST by capt. norm
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To: NYer
I have had a few miracles in my life but the one that just makes me in awe of God is the one that happened in my neice.

Erica was born on the day of the big snow here in NC...January 24, 2000. She was non respondent at birth and had an odd color to her. She improved "enough" to be sent home where she did not thrive. She could not keep breast milk down and her stomach was constantly upset. A week after coming home she "died" . Her mother had to perform CPR on this tiny baby all the way to the hospital. When they arrived she was placed on a ventilator.

After many tests it was confirmed that Erica was born with menengitis. She lost the frontal left lobe of her brain as a result. Dr's gave no hope of her ever being able to speak and said that she would be developmentally delayed. Severely so.

Today, Erica is a bright and TALKATIVE almost 3 year old. She converses with others with outstanding clarity in her words. She loves to draw and write. She is beginning to learn to read. Her neurologist in Chapel Hill said ( we have written documentation ) that if he did not know, for a fact, that the MRI pics he has were of her he would swear that this child is NOT the same kid whose pics he has.

One can say all day long that she is not a miracle but I will believe otherwise forever. The moment we heard of her being taken to the hospital and put on a ventilator we hit our knees. God is able!

8 posted on 01/07/2003 11:17:51 AM PST by PleaseNoMore
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To: NYer
I think probably any believer can point to innumerable small ways in which God has smoothed over some problem, or done something for us. (I can point to one from yesterday, in fact.....)

There are also bigger ones -- I've got several "touched by God" experiences, as have a number of people I know. My personal favorite is this one:

I was driving along a pretty full freeway one day. I was in the left lane. Traffic was going about 70, when some bozo pulling trailer-full of junk decides to pull onto the freeway at about 25 mph. He cut off a couple of lanes of traffic. The other cars began to skate around, and dodge to the left. It became obvious that I was about to be squashed onto the construction barrier just to my left. There was almost no shoulder, and certainly no room for a car. I was going to be in a nasty wreck, and there was nothing I could do about it.

Just before the wreck was going to happen, the construction barrier ended, revealing a "spare lane," into which I swerved, and avoided the accident. The "spare lane" ended within about 1000 feet, but it was enough: I was able to avoid the wreck.

Not too long after, I drove that way again. I was all set to show the "spare lane" to my family, but it wasn't there, and there was no indication that it had ever been there.

(As it happens, at the exact time this occurred, my wife and kids had decided to pray for me to have a safe trip....)

9 posted on 01/07/2003 11:32:32 AM PST by r9etb
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To: MsLady
Miracle ping....
10 posted on 01/07/2003 11:33:27 AM PST by r9etb
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To: NYer
Thank you for your post.
Az
11 posted on 01/07/2003 11:38:36 AM PST by azhenfud
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To: r9etb
Not too long after, I drove that way again. I was all set to show the "spare lane" to my family, but it wasn't there, and there was no indication that it had ever been there.

That is absolutely unbelievable!! Definitely a story for the PAX series - That's A Miracle. God AND your Guardian Angel were watching over you at that moment. Thank you for sharing this wonderful story.

12 posted on 01/07/2003 11:42:59 AM PST by NYer (I believe in miracles.)
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Comment #13 Removed by Moderator

Comment #14 Removed by Moderator

To: PleaseNoMore
One can say all day long that she is not a miracle but I will believe otherwise forever.

Only skeptics who need to experience it first hand would make such a ridiculous comment. Miracles are part of our daily lives and your story is living proof of the power of faith and prayer.

15 posted on 01/07/2003 11:55:34 AM PST by NYer (I believe in miracles.)
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To: PleaseNoMore
One miracle and one intervention:

My mother went into the hospital for a broken hip. She HATED going to the doctor, and never had checkups for over 10 years. They gave her a full workup. They found evidence of multiple heart attacks, as well as a fairly large tumor in her brain.

Her name and condition hit the prayer lists in every church that her numerous children belonged to. At the next scan, there was absolutely NO tumor whatsoever. None. Praise the Lord.

The second one (of many that I have experienced, though this one was really profound as I was being refined by God):

My stepson got into drugs, and started stealing to pay for his habit. We found out about it after his wife called to say that he had stolen her sister's checkbook, and was writing checks all over the place, buying goods, then hocking them for drugs. We had to get him into a rehab, and fast.

We found one in Northern Alabama that was Christian-based, and had a high-success rate. We enrolled him, even though I had no means of paying for it at the time.

Out of the BLUE, my sister sent me a check, as she had experienced a phenomenal year in the market and wanted to share her wealth with her siblings. So, there! I now had the money to pay for his rehab. I also could pay for the $1,000 in bounced checks from his drug spree.

Feeling very proud of myself, I bragged back to my sister, whom had just given me the check, that I was able to use it -- ALL of it -- to help out my stepson. Humility was nowhere to be found in me -- I was proud, and lied as well, by telling her that it cost me more than it had from her gift to help him out.

So, I actually spent a bit over $1,000 and claimed to have spent her entire check she sent on helping him.

In the meantime, I planned on what I was going to do with the rest of the money she sent me.

I spent the remainder of the money. Just buying stuff.

The following week, I got notification from 5 other stores that he had in fact bounced checks there also, and "they don't know why they couldn't find them when I called previously."

I received the checks, and tallied the amounts.

Care to guess how much they were for?

They totalled the EXACT AMOUNT that I had left over before I spent it -- the DIFFERENCE between what I had SAID to my sister and what I ACTUALLY spent. To the Penny

I had asked God to refine me, to give me the wisdom to be the person He wants me to be. God followed through, even though I had not. It was a PERFECT reminder that God is present, and will work in your life if you invite Him.

People that do not believe will never have the chance to know what I know, and that is a shame. Faith is required, and the first step is the hardest, but God is Faithful -- even when we aren't.

16 posted on 01/07/2003 11:55:43 AM PST by ImaGraftedBranch
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To: r9etb; PleaseNoMore
check out mine at #16
17 posted on 01/07/2003 11:57:22 AM PST by ImaGraftedBranch
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To: r9etb
Wow! That is an amazing story! God really blessed you that day!
18 posted on 01/07/2003 11:57:59 AM PST by FourtySeven
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Comment #19 Removed by Moderator

To: NYer
While a newborn infant, my mother was thrown from my grandmother's arms while riding a mule-drawn buckboard and was run over by it. She was crushed by the wheels, and was blue and not breathing by the time my late grandfather got the wagon stopped and ran back to her. My late grandmother, a saintly and loving woman whom I miss very much, bent over my mother's lifeless body out of that wagon rut and prayed desperately to Jesus Christ to heal her newborn daughter.

Immediately, my mother began to breathe again. He normal color soon returned. She's hale and hearty today, may God be praised.

This took place on a dirt road in a Missisippi cottonfield in 1946. There were no paramedics back then, and the nearest doctor was miles away. Neither of my late grandparents had the slightest medical or lifesaving knowledge; they knew how to read, write, and pray -- that's it. Only a miracle could and did save my mother from an early grave, and I'm very grateful for it. My grandmother's sincere prayer was answered. Thanks be to God, my mother lived, as did I, and someday my children.

Why did my mom live while other children did not? We can't know. Sometimes God's supernatural Power intervenes to avert such nightmares; other times, He allows tragedy and heartbreak to occur. In either case, His comfort and healing are the true miracles. The Lord can bring a broken heart back to life, or start a still heart beating again, as He wills. And who are we to question Him? I hope that if such a tragedy every strikes my life, Our Lady will intercede for me to remember that a sword pierced her own immaculate heart too, that His ways are not our ways, and that "the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away; blessed be the Name of the Lord."

Were it not for the mercy of God and the faith my dear Christian grandmother displayed on the side of that muddy country road so long ago, my mother would not be alive today -- and I would not be writing these words now. The fact that she lived and that I exist at all is a miracle as far as I am concered.

20 posted on 01/07/2003 12:13:59 PM PST by B-Chan
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