WEBVTT
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I didn't have my shirt tucked in, and the front
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of my shirt got caught on the PTO shaft, and
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it started wrapping me in. It wrapped in my arms
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and just ripped both of them off right below the
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shoulders and the elbow. And I hit the ground, and
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it was knocked unconscious, and I woke up with my
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dog licking my face.
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He now has to figure out how to call for
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help without arms. This is The Miracle Files. I'm Emily Jones.
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And I'm Holly Worthington. We're two sisters who love a
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captivating true story, but we're also seeking more light in
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our lives.
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So we're on a mission to find and share unforgettable,
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uplifting stories of God's miracles. We hope you'll join us
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on this journey.
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Welcome back to Miracle Mail, where once a month we
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get to share stories that are sent in by you,
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our listeners. Yeah.
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And today we have four more miracle stories to share
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with you. And before we begin, if you haven't already
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subscribed to our podcast, make sure you do that so
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you never miss an episode. And if you have a minute,
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please leave us a review because it really helps people
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to discover our podcast.
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Yes.
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Thank you so much for all you guys do. We
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could not do this show without you.
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Absolutely.
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So our First story today comes from Kenzie Gibbs, who
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experienced something remarkable during her pregnancy with her twins. And
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it all began with one baby who refused to move.
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Kenzie writes, we were having twin boys. The pregnancy progressed normally,
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and our boys were sitting in the womb in a T-shape.
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Baby A, Vance, was head down in my pelvis. And
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baby B, Shepard, was sitting horizontally on top between my ribs.
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Vance on the bottom was very calm and hardly ever
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moved more than a hiccup here and there. At the
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33-week mark, our calm little baby Vance decided to lock
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his legs straight up and to the side into his brother.
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It was very uncomfortable for me, but no matter how
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hard I tried to move his legs and adjust my
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position to move him, he would not budge.
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Oh man, I just remember being pregnant and feeling like
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a foot or a hand or something in the ribs
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and you're trying to get it out and they just
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won't budge.
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Feeling like your ribs are literally bruised. Yeah. Yeah.
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I can relate.
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I remember that feeling too. And Kenzie goes on to
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explain how Vance stayed in that position. And meanwhile, Kenzie's
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blood pressure begins to rise and her doctor is pretty unconcerned.
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He thinks she's okay. But a couple of weeks later,
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her doctor goes on vacation and another doctor who's on
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call comes in And he takes one look at her
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blood pressure and goes, no, something's wrong here. We need
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to deliver these babies immediately. But there's one problem. There
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is no room in the NICU. So they decide that
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they're going to have to transfer her the next day.
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But on this night, as she's waiting to be transferred. Coincidentally, well,
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we don't believe in coincidences, but... Not on this podcast. No,
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not on this podcast. But at the time, her sister-in-law
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and brother are also in this hospital because her sister-in-law
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is having a baby there too. Same time. Yeah. So
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her brother and her husband come in and they place
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their hands on Kenzie's head and proclaim a blessing of
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healing over her and her sweet little baby's Kinsey is
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then transferred and she's induced. And this whole time, little
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Vance is still holding that same position, not moving his legs. Stubborn.
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And labor is continuing to progress as normal, but that's
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all about to change. So here's what Kinsey said. When
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it was time to deliver... I pushed Vance out in
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two pushes. Immediately after Vance's birth, Shepard's heart rate plummeted
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into the low 40s. In a rush of panic, they
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broke his water and he was delivered in one push,
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four minutes after his brother, covered in blood and not breathing.
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After some intervention, he began to breathe and was whisked away.
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It wasn't until the next morning when the doctor came
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to visit that we finally had answers. they had discovered
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that an estimated two weeks prior to birth, Shepard's placenta
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had an abruption and had also started to die and
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peel away from my uterine wall. If Vance had not
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literally held Shepard's placenta in place, he would have died.
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For two whole weeks, Vance worked tirelessly to save his
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brother's life. Despite my efforts to make us all more comfortable,
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God knew that we needed Vance's determination to protect all
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of us. When Vance was born, he could no longer
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hold that placenta on, and Shepard immediately started to decline.
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We were blessed to have both of our boys born alive,
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and they share a special bond that is impossible to explain. Sorry,
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how am I supposed to get through this? This is
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a hard one.
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Sorry.
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There were so many miracles here. Our doctor going on
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vacation so the blood pressure change could be taken seriously.
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The timing of my brother being at the hospital to
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assist with a blessing before we were transferred. And the
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God-given strength of a baby who kept his dying brother alive.
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We have since been blessed with two more children whom
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Vance and Shepard love and protect just as fiercely as
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Vance once protected Shepard.
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It's pretty remarkable that this little baby didn't move his legs.
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And you think about this mom, she wanted him to move.
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She wanted him to get out of her ribs and
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get more comfortable. No idea that there was a reason
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for all of that discomfort. Yeah, I know.
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Sometimes we don't know why we're going through hard things
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and we can't see the full picture.
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There was a reason. Yeah, God's plan is better.
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A very powerful, amazing reason. Yeah.
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Okay. So our next story comes from Allie Brown, whose
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family experienced a devastating house fire in April of 2022.
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She writes, we had spent the whole Saturday working in
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our yard. It got late, but we had promised our
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three boys we would take them to Chili's if they
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helped us. So 830 that night with three tired kids,
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we went to dinner, something completely outside our normal routine.
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Dinner took forever. By the time we got home, it
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was way past bedtime. As Andrew opened the garage, thick
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black smoke came pouring out. Then we noticed the fire
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in the back corner of the garage. Andrew jumped out
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and ran to the backyard to grab the hose. The
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boys immediately started yelling, Our little dog was inside the house,
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just on the other side of the wall from the fire.
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I ran through the smoke, found him in his kennel,
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and carried him out. Before I went in, I looked
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at my son Spencer and asked, Do you know our address?
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He said yes. I handed him my phone and told
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him to call 911 and tell them our house was
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on fire. He did exactly what I asked. He was
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so brave. Andrew kicked in the back door and grabbed
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the garden hose and started fighting the flames while I
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stayed on the phone with 911. About 12 minutes later,
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the firefighters arrived. One of them looked at us and said,
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you guys must be living right. Because if you had
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come home two minutes later, we would be having a
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completely different kind of conversation. The fire had started when
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an RC car battery exploded while charging. It was surrounded
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by things that could have made the situation catastrophic. Gas, paint, fertilizer,
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our gas dryer, and a gas fireplace. and our fire
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alarms never went off. We realized afterward that if we
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had followed our normal routine, we would have put the
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boys to bed and gone about our evening. We may
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have never discovered the fire in time. Instead, we went
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to Chili's.
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Yeah.
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So she goes on to say that that wasn't the
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only miracle that they experienced. Just a few weeks before this,
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they had gone on a family trip in their RV
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and then they came home and they cleaned it all
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out and they got it all stocked and ready for
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a friend to borrow. And that same RV that they
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had been preparing was now their home.
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Oh, wow.
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And then she also talks about over the next days
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and weeks, neighbors and friends stepping in to help provide
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Food and blankets and supplies. And a neighbor allowed them
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to stay in their basement. Someone else allowed their son
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to borrow a musical instrument for school. Just so many
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people stepped in to help them.
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Wow, that's amazing.
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But then she also had some personal smaller miracles where
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one night she went into her husband's closet to try
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to find him pants to wear to church. And she
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couldn't find them anywhere. And she was just frustrated. And finally,
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she decided to get down on her knees and pray.
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And- She said that as soon as she opened her eyes,
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the pants were right there in front of her, you know,
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under all the hanging clothes on the ground. And she
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wouldn't have seen them if she hadn't been kneeling down.
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And also her son's teacher had experienced a house fire.
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So she was a wonderful source of comfort, somebody who
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could relate. But she also said something to them that
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really changed Allie's perspective on this. So here's what Allie wrote.
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One day she told me, this is the Lord dumping
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blessings on you. And I came to truly believe that.
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I started keeping a list on my phone called Beauty
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from Ashes, listing all the beautiful little miracles in this journey.
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Whenever I felt sorry for myself or was overwhelmed, by
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everything we had lost, I would read that list. The
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fire was devastating. The trauma was real. But so was
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the protection. God didn't stop the fire from happening. Instead,
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He showed us that He was there in the middle
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of it. And in the months that followed, we had
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a front row seat to His goodness. He truly does
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create beauty from ashes.
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Literally in this situation, but wow. I mean, that's so
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amazing that they could see those little mercies, those blessings,
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those miracles despite everything.
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Yeah, and I love that she pointed out that God
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didn't take the fire away, but He was there with
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her and their family through it. He walks with us.
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He carries us.
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Yes, absolutely. And an absolute miracle that they hadn't just
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gone to bed that night. You know, they had these
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little kids who are exhausted. It's past their bedtime. This
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isn't their normal routine. Who knows if they had all
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gone to bed how tragic this could have ended. Yeah.
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You know, just such a miracle.
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So grateful for how this ended.
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Yeah.
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Okay. Well, thank you, Allie. Our next story comes from
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Amy Rasmussen. She writes, in 2011, Colton was five years
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old and had just started kindergarten. He was a busy,
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energetic little boy who loved doing all the things little
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boys love to do. One day he was outside riding
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his scooter when all of a sudden I heard him
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screaming in pain. I ran outside and asked what had
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happened and he just kept crying.
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My hip, my hip.
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I asked if he had fallen off his scooter and
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he said no. I asked if he had run into something. Again,
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he said no. I asked the other children who were
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playing with him what had happened, but they all said
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the same thing. Nothing had happened. He had simply started
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crying and screaming in pain. I brought him inside and
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laid him down, but the pain didn't go away. I
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called a friend who was a nurse, and she suggested
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that I take him to the emergency room. At the ER,
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they gave Colton something for the pain, examined him, and
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took an x-ray of his hip. After a while, the
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doctor came back and told us that the x-ray showed
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the ball of his hip joint was deteriorating. They suspected
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he had Perthes disease, a childhood condition where the blood
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supply to the ball of the hip joint is temporarily interrupted,
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causing the bone to deteriorate. Yikes, that does not sound good.
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No, and it's crazy that like nothing happened. Like this
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was something that they couldn't have prevented. They didn't know
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it was in there. Yeah. Poor boy.
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Yeah.
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So they take him to a children's hospital and the
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doctor confirms the diagnosis. And she explains that treatment could involve,
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you know, casts and braces to avoid weight bearing on
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his hip. And he'd have to do that for up
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to five years. Plus they're talking about, he may even
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have to have total hip replacement.
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On a five-year-old boy.
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On this little guy.
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Yeah. That's crazy.
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Amy goes on to say, The thought of keeping an
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active five-year-old boy from running and playing for years was daunting.
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The doctor wanted us to return in a month for
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another x-ray. She expected to see further deterioration and would
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develop a treatment plan based on how the disease had progressed.
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During that month, Colton continued to have bouts of pain,
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and we did our best to limit his activity. Then
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our dear neighbor, who was the leader of our local congregation,
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asked our community to hold a special fast for Colton.
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Hundreds of people joined us in praying and fasting specifically
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for his healing. Before our follow-up appointment, Colton had another
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set of x-rays taken. When the orthopedic doctor came back
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into the room after comparing the new x-rays with the
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previous ones, she told us that she did not see
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the additional deterioration she had expected. In fact, she told
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us that she didn't need to proceed with the treatment plan.
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Colton was healed. He went on to become an incredibly
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active young man. He played football and became a competitive wrestler,
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even competing in national wrestling tournaments. When I watch him compete,
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I am reminded of how different his life could have been.
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To some, this may seem like a small miracle, but
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to our family, it felt like God had moved a mountain.
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That is so sweet.
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Well, we've heard this before, you know, somebody gets a
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diagnosis or an x-ray and then after a prayer, after
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a miracle, they're healed, like a complete healing. He goes
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on and he's a football player. He's a wrestler, complete healing. Yeah.
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So cool.
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Okay. So our final story today comes from John Thompson.
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And this is a story that you are going to
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have to hear to believe. We actually have this one
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on video.
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And it's incredible, but it's also quite gruesome. I will
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warn you. But amazing story. Yes.
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So hang in there. Here's John explaining what happened that day.
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So I was 18 years old, a senior in high
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school in Hurtsville, North Dakota, which is like 75 people
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in total population. And just working in my family's farm.
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And my parents had gone to Bismarck to visit somebody
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else in the hospital. And dad just told me to
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unload the grain from the grain truck into the hopper
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for pig feed. And so they took off. I got
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up in the morning like any other time. And I
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walked down to the grain bins to unload this truck.
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And I started unloading it and I was playing with
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my dog and just not paying attention. I've done this
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hundreds of other times. It's not that big of a
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deal to do. And I didn't have my shirt tucked in.
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And the front of my shirt got caught on the
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PTO shaft. And it started wrapping me in. It wrapped
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in my arms and just ripped both of them off
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right below the shoulders and the elbow. And I hit
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the ground and it was knocked unconscious. And I woke
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up with my dog licking my face, Tuffy. And I
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didn't know what happened. I knew something was wrong because
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I just didn't feel right. And I was trying to
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push myself up with my right arm and I wasn't moving.
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And then I noticed the right arm was completely gone.
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You know, I looked at myself again and realized what
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had happened. It sunk in. And I just started screaming
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for a quick second. And my dog luckily was there
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and he would just sit in front of me looking
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at me with his head cocked to the side, his
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little ears sticking up. And I just looked at his
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face and I just completely calmed down and I'm like, okay,
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we need to get up to the house. And I
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got up there and I was able to get the
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toe of my boot in between the storm door and
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the frame and get that door open. But then the
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main door was shut. So then I just, without thinking,
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dropped to my knees and bit it with my mouth
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and turned with my head to get in.
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That is horrific.
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Horrible. Yeah. So we're going to pause for a moment
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here just to kind of process everything that we just heard.
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John is in an accident where he's lost both of
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his arms. He's unconscious. His dog wakes him up.
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And he.
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Now he's inside the house. I mean, this is just
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a horrific accident that happened.
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Yeah.
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And he now has to figure out how to call
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for help. Now this was back in 1992 and his
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community that he was in didn't even have 911 yet.
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And so he has to figure out how to call
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for help without arms. So at first he tries using
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his nose to dial the numbers and that's not working.
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So then he finds a pencil he puts in his
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mouth and tries to dial the phone number for his cousin.
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He finally gets through and he says to her, I
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need an ambulance. I have no arms.
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Can you imagine?
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Yeah, I can't imagine what that phone call was like.
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And she didn't believe him at first. Oh, that's right.
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Yeah.
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No, I'm serious. So then he convinces her that this
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is real. She calls her stepmom. Her stepmom calls the ambulance.
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And eventually... the emergency crews arrive with an ambulance. And
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as they're loading John into an ambulance, one of the
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emergency crew members, name was Rick, he decides to go
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in the backyard and just see if he can find
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these arms.
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And as he's walking down there, my dog Tuffy was
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with him. And my one arm was laying right behind
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the tractor underneath the PTO shaft where the accident happened.
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And he couldn't find my second arm anywhere. And he
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looked around for a while. He could not find it.
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He's like, well, We need to get going. So he
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just grabbed my one arm. He thought my other arm
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fell in the hopper, the grain auger, and got dumped
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in the grain bin. He just sent somebody out later
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to pick it up. And Rick started walking back to
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the house with my arm, and my dog started barking
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at him. He's like, what's this dog barking about? And
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he turned around, and my dog, Tuffy, was standing over
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my other arm, which is thrown about 40 feet away
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in between the grain bins.
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Oh, wow.
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Yeah.
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Good old Tuffy.
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Yeah. So Tuffy again is there to help John. And
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Rick is able to find both arms. And so he
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gets these arms placed on ice right away. And John
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is then driven 28 miles to the closest hospital. But
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at this point, he's losing so much blood that this
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local hospital doesn't have enough blood to give him. So
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he needs to be flown to Minneapolis.
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Yeah.
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Meanwhile, his parents get word of what's happened. They're out
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of town, remember? They hear that their son has lost
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both arms, and they also book the first flight to Minneapolis.
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And John gets to this hospital. It's been hours since
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he's lost his arms. Doctors are running out of time,
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and a surgeon comes in to talk to John.
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He's like, John, I'm going to be your surgeon. We
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have to make two choices immediately. We are running out
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of time. He said, we can either put your arms
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on or leave them off. I said, I'm here. Put
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them on. He's like, well, before we can do this,
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you need to know the risks. Because if we put
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them on, you're not going to have normal use ever.
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You're going to be disabled the rest of your life.
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There's a high risk of infection. There's a higher risk
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of you losing your life. I said, I don't care,
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put them on. He's like, okay, let's go. I said, well, no,
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I can't do this. I said, I've never been in
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the hospital before. I was terrified. I said, I don't
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know what this is going to cost. I need to
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have my parents' permission. He's like, you're 18 years old.
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You don't need parents' permission. You know, all's we need
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is you're okay and we can do this. And I'm
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arguing this. I can't do this. I need to talk
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to my family first. Well, then it just so happened
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my dad walks in the emergency room right when I'm
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arguing with him about not wanting to do this. And
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my dad said, don't worry about it. Don't worry about
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the farm or the expenses. We'll get this taken care of.
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Just get in there and do what you need to do.
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Can you imagine making that decision at 18.
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Years of age? At 18 years old. Make this lifelong
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decision that you can't alter.
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So hard.
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00:20:48.619 --> 00:20:52.049
Yeah. So John's dad gets there and gives him the
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go ahead. John then has surgery to reattach these two
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arms that have been sitting on ice for several hours.
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00:20:59.470 --> 00:21:02.779
And doctors are hoping that maybe if they reattach the arms,
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00:21:02.839 --> 00:21:06.960
he could get some movement in his shoulders, possibly his elbows.
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00:21:07.740 --> 00:21:11.660
So they do this six hour long surgery and they
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reattach his arms. And then John wakes up from surgery
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and you know, the blood's not really circulating. It's seeming
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00:21:18.630 --> 00:21:20.349
like it's not going to work. The doctors are saying,
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00:21:20.730 --> 00:21:23.869
we really think we need to amputate your arms. And
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John refuses and says, I don't want you to amputate
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my arms. Leave them. And John refuses and says, I
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don't want you to amputate my arms. Leave them. Well,
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within a couple of days, remarkably, the blood starts to flow.
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And miraculously, both arms survive. Even more miraculous is that
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the function that he has in his arms defies every
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doctor's expectations. So today, he can move both arms. He
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00:22:02.470 --> 00:22:06.490
can grip objects. He can feel hot and cold. And
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he can do things like he can paint. He can
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do yard work. He can take care of his house. Yes,
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he lives completely independently. But John also looks back and
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recognizes that if his dog Tuffy hadn't woken him up
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when he was laying there bleeding, he likely wouldn't be
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here today.
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Without my dog, I wouldn't have lived. I mean, he's
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the one that woke me up. And I just think
427
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back to when he woke me up, I looked in
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my face, I got up, and I stood there, and
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00:22:41.839 --> 00:22:44.349
I saw myself and what really had happened and realized it.
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I looked at him in his eyes, and I just
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00:22:50.900 --> 00:22:53.849
immediately shut down. I just looked at him and focused
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on him, and I was immediately calm. I mean, if
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he hadn't been there, I just stood there just screaming
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and bled to death. He was the one that saved
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my life that day. He was the hero of the
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whole story.
437
00:23:04.619 --> 00:23:11.400
I can see you're emotional because it's kind of timely.
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00:23:12.119 --> 00:23:13.680
This is a hard one for me because I just
439
00:23:13.720 --> 00:23:15.839
had to put my dog down, as some of you know.
440
00:23:15.859 --> 00:23:19.460
I had to put little Pierre to sleep. So, you know,
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00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:21.700
Tuffy sounds like an amazing dog.
442
00:23:22.319 --> 00:23:26.450
I know. Amazing how much these little animals mean to us.
443
00:23:27.490 --> 00:23:30.410
And they really are little heroes a lot of times.
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00:23:31.210 --> 00:23:31.559
Oh, yeah.
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I mean, dogs are amazing. They will do anything and
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even risk their own lives to protect their humans. And
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I want to just point out, you know, we actually
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00:23:41.480 --> 00:23:44.650
may have different beliefs than John. He wasn't sure whether
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00:23:44.690 --> 00:23:47.529
or not, you know, this was a miracle. And we
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00:23:47.710 --> 00:23:50.470
absolutely credit Tuffy as a hero and we credit God.
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00:23:51.279 --> 00:23:54.599
as intervening on John's behalf. And we're so grateful that
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00:23:55.720 --> 00:23:59.599
this story had such a positive outcome. And we also
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00:23:59.940 --> 00:24:02.069
want to just thank all of the people who shared
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00:24:02.220 --> 00:24:04.569
their stories with us today. All of you who continue
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00:24:04.589 --> 00:24:07.549
to send in stories, they are incredible. And honestly- Although
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00:24:07.569 --> 00:24:09.569
quit making me cry, people.
457
00:24:09.890 --> 00:24:10.250
Seriously.
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00:24:10.569 --> 00:24:13.109
No, keep making her cry. Keep doing it.
459
00:24:13.130 --> 00:24:15.690
Oh, this was a bad one. I got super emotional today.
460
00:24:15.750 --> 00:24:17.279
I'm sorry. I apologize.
461
00:24:17.740 --> 00:24:18.220
It's okay.
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00:24:18.480 --> 00:24:18.980
I like it.
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00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:22.380
I think it's sweet. But honestly, I love how different
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every story is. And I think it's just a testament
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to how God sees us all individually and loves us
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00:24:28.440 --> 00:24:33.069
each and intervenes in our lives in different ways when
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00:24:33.089 --> 00:24:33.490
we need it.
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00:24:33.710 --> 00:24:36.569
And even when things don't go as planned, He is there.
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00:24:37.230 --> 00:24:40.109
Absolutely. All right. Well, thank you, John. If you want
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00:24:40.170 --> 00:24:42.450
to hear the rest of John's story, you can get
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00:24:42.509 --> 00:24:45.859
his book. It's called Home in One Piece. And we
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00:24:45.880 --> 00:24:48.880
will also post in our show notes where you can
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00:24:48.940 --> 00:24:50.759
find him to follow him on social media.
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Yes. Thank you, everyone, for listening. And make sure to
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00:24:54.059 --> 00:24:56.799
share this episode with your friends. We'll see you next time.
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00:24:59.640 --> 00:25:01.829
Thank you for joining us. If you have a miracle
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00:25:01.869 --> 00:25:05.730
to share, contact us at themiraclefiles.com or find us on
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00:25:05.789 --> 00:25:09.650
social media. We release new episodes each Monday. Yes.
479
00:25:09.690 --> 00:25:13.650
So don't forget Miracle Mondays. Subscribe on your favorite podcast
480
00:25:13.690 --> 00:25:17.210
platform and YouTube for amazing video content as well.
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00:25:17.670 --> 00:25:20.759
Join us next time as we discover more of God's miracles.
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00:25:21.119 --> 00:25:23.099
And don't forget to look for His light in your
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own lives.
1
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I didn't have my shirt tucked in, and the front
2
00:00:03.669 --> 00:00:05.950
of my shirt got caught on the PTO shaft, and
3
00:00:05.969 --> 00:00:08.730
it started wrapping me in. It wrapped in my arms
4
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and just ripped both of them off right below the
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shoulders and the elbow. And I hit the ground, and
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it was knocked unconscious, and I woke up with my
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dog licking my face.
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He now has to figure out how to call for
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help without arms. This is The Miracle Files. I'm Emily Jones.
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And I'm Holly Worthington. We're two sisters who love a
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captivating true story, but we're also seeking more light in
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our lives.
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So we're on a mission to find and share unforgettable,
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uplifting stories of God's miracles. We hope you'll join us
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on this journey.
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Welcome back to Miracle Mail, where once a month we
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get to share stories that are sent in by you,
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our listeners. Yeah.
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And today we have four more miracle stories to share
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with you. And before we begin, if you haven't already
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subscribed to our podcast, make sure you do that so
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you never miss an episode. And if you have a minute,
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please leave us a review because it really helps people
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to discover our podcast.
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Yes.
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Thank you so much for all you guys do. We
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could not do this show without you.
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Absolutely.
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So our First story today comes from Kenzie Gibbs, who
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experienced something remarkable during her pregnancy with her twins. And
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it all began with one baby who refused to move.
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Kenzie writes, we were having twin boys. The pregnancy progressed normally,
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and our boys were sitting in the womb in a T-shape.
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Baby A, Vance, was head down in my pelvis. And
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baby B, Shepard, was sitting horizontally on top between my ribs.
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Vance on the bottom was very calm and hardly ever
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moved more than a hiccup here and there. At the
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33-week mark, our calm little baby Vance decided to lock
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his legs straight up and to the side into his brother.
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It was very uncomfortable for me, but no matter how
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hard I tried to move his legs and adjust my
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position to move him, he would not budge.
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Oh man, I just remember being pregnant and feeling like
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a foot or a hand or something in the ribs
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and you're trying to get it out and they just
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won't budge.
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Feeling like your ribs are literally bruised. Yeah. Yeah.
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I can relate.
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I remember that feeling too. And Kenzie goes on to
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explain how Vance stayed in that position. And meanwhile, Kenzie's
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blood pressure begins to rise and her doctor is pretty unconcerned.
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He thinks she's okay. But a couple of weeks later,
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her doctor goes on vacation and another doctor who's on
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call comes in And he takes one look at her
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blood pressure and goes, no, something's wrong here. We need
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to deliver these babies immediately. But there's one problem. There
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is no room in the NICU. So they decide that
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they're going to have to transfer her the next day.
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But on this night, as she's waiting to be transferred. Coincidentally, well,
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we don't believe in coincidences, but... Not on this podcast. No,
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not on this podcast. But at the time, her sister-in-law
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and brother are also in this hospital because her sister-in-law
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is having a baby there too. Same time. Yeah. So
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her brother and her husband come in and they place
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their hands on Kenzie's head and proclaim a blessing of
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healing over her and her sweet little baby's Kinsey is
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then transferred and she's induced. And this whole time, little
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Vance is still holding that same position, not moving his legs. Stubborn.
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And labor is continuing to progress as normal, but that's
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all about to change. So here's what Kinsey said. When
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it was time to deliver... I pushed Vance out in
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two pushes. Immediately after Vance's birth, Shepard's heart rate plummeted
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into the low 40s. In a rush of panic, they
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broke his water and he was delivered in one push,
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four minutes after his brother, covered in blood and not breathing.
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After some intervention, he began to breathe and was whisked away.
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It wasn't until the next morning when the doctor came
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to visit that we finally had answers. they had discovered
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that an estimated two weeks prior to birth, Shepard's placenta
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had an abruption and had also started to die and
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peel away from my uterine wall. If Vance had not
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literally held Shepard's placenta in place, he would have died.
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For two whole weeks, Vance worked tirelessly to save his
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brother's life. Despite my efforts to make us all more comfortable,
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God knew that we needed Vance's determination to protect all
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of us. When Vance was born, he could no longer
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hold that placenta on, and Shepard immediately started to decline.
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We were blessed to have both of our boys born alive,
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and they share a special bond that is impossible to explain. Sorry,
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how am I supposed to get through this? This is
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a hard one.
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Sorry.
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There were so many miracles here. Our doctor going on
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vacation so the blood pressure change could be taken seriously.
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The timing of my brother being at the hospital to
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assist with a blessing before we were transferred. And the
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God-given strength of a baby who kept his dying brother alive.
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We have since been blessed with two more children whom
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Vance and Shepard love and protect just as fiercely as
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Vance once protected Shepard.
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It's pretty remarkable that this little baby didn't move his legs.
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And you think about this mom, she wanted him to move.
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She wanted him to get out of her ribs and
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get more comfortable. No idea that there was a reason
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for all of that discomfort. Yeah, I know.
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Sometimes we don't know why we're going through hard things
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and we can't see the full picture.
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There was a reason. Yeah, God's plan is better.
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A very powerful, amazing reason. Yeah.
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Okay. So our next story comes from Allie Brown, whose
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family experienced a devastating house fire in April of 2022.
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She writes, we had spent the whole Saturday working in
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our yard. It got late, but we had promised our
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three boys we would take them to Chili's if they
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helped us. So 830 that night with three tired kids,
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we went to dinner, something completely outside our normal routine.
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Dinner took forever. By the time we got home, it
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was way past bedtime. As Andrew opened the garage, thick
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black smoke came pouring out. Then we noticed the fire
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in the back corner of the garage. Andrew jumped out
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and ran to the backyard to grab the hose. The
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boys immediately started yelling, Our little dog was inside the house,
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just on the other side of the wall from the fire.
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I ran through the smoke, found him in his kennel,
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and carried him out. Before I went in, I looked
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at my son Spencer and asked, Do you know our address?
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He said yes. I handed him my phone and told
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him to call 911 and tell them our house was
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on fire. He did exactly what I asked. He was
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so brave. Andrew kicked in the back door and grabbed
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the garden hose and started fighting the flames while I
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stayed on the phone with 911. About 12 minutes later,
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the firefighters arrived. One of them looked at us and said,
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you guys must be living right. Because if you had
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come home two minutes later, we would be having a
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completely different kind of conversation. The fire had started when
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an RC car battery exploded while charging. It was surrounded
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by things that could have made the situation catastrophic. Gas, paint, fertilizer,
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our gas dryer, and a gas fireplace. and our fire
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alarms never went off. We realized afterward that if we
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had followed our normal routine, we would have put the
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boys to bed and gone about our evening. We may
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have never discovered the fire in time. Instead, we went
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to Chili's.
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Yeah.
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So she goes on to say that that wasn't the
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only miracle that they experienced. Just a few weeks before this,
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they had gone on a family trip in their RV
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and then they came home and they cleaned it all
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out and they got it all stocked and ready for
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a friend to borrow. And that same RV that they
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had been preparing was now their home.
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Oh, wow.
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And then she also talks about over the next days
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and weeks, neighbors and friends stepping in to help provide
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Food and blankets and supplies. And a neighbor allowed them
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to stay in their basement. Someone else allowed their son
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to borrow a musical instrument for school. Just so many
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people stepped in to help them.
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Wow, that's amazing.
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But then she also had some personal smaller miracles where
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one night she went into her husband's closet to try
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to find him pants to wear to church. And she
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couldn't find them anywhere. And she was just frustrated. And finally,
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she decided to get down on her knees and pray.
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And- She said that as soon as she opened her eyes,
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the pants were right there in front of her, you know,
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under all the hanging clothes on the ground. And she
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wouldn't have seen them if she hadn't been kneeling down.
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And also her son's teacher had experienced a house fire.
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So she was a wonderful source of comfort, somebody who
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could relate. But she also said something to them that
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really changed Allie's perspective on this. So here's what Allie wrote.
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One day she told me, this is the Lord dumping
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blessings on you. And I came to truly believe that.
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I started keeping a list on my phone called Beauty
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from Ashes, listing all the beautiful little miracles in this journey.
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Whenever I felt sorry for myself or was overwhelmed, by
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everything we had lost, I would read that list. The
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fire was devastating. The trauma was real. But so was
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the protection. God didn't stop the fire from happening. Instead,
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He showed us that He was there in the middle
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of it. And in the months that followed, we had
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a front row seat to His goodness. He truly does
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create beauty from ashes.
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Literally in this situation, but wow. I mean, that's so
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amazing that they could see those little mercies, those blessings,
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those miracles despite everything.
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Yeah, and I love that she pointed out that God
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didn't take the fire away, but He was there with
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her and their family through it. He walks with us.
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He carries us.
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Yes, absolutely. And an absolute miracle that they hadn't just
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gone to bed that night. You know, they had these
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little kids who are exhausted. It's past their bedtime. This
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isn't their normal routine. Who knows if they had all
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gone to bed how tragic this could have ended. Yeah.
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You know, just such a miracle.
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So grateful for how this ended.
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Yeah.
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Okay. Well, thank you, Allie. Our next story comes from
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Amy Rasmussen. She writes, in 2011, Colton was five years
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old and had just started kindergarten. He was a busy,
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energetic little boy who loved doing all the things little
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boys love to do. One day he was outside riding
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his scooter when all of a sudden I heard him
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screaming in pain. I ran outside and asked what had
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happened and he just kept crying.
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My hip, my hip.
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I asked if he had fallen off his scooter and
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he said no. I asked if he had run into something. Again,
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he said no. I asked the other children who were
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playing with him what had happened, but they all said
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the same thing. Nothing had happened. He had simply started
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crying and screaming in pain. I brought him inside and
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laid him down, but the pain didn't go away. I
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called a friend who was a nurse, and she suggested
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that I take him to the emergency room. At the ER,
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they gave Colton something for the pain, examined him, and
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took an x-ray of his hip. After a while, the
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doctor came back and told us that the x-ray showed
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the ball of his hip joint was deteriorating. They suspected
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he had Perthes disease, a childhood condition where the blood
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supply to the ball of the hip joint is temporarily interrupted,
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causing the bone to deteriorate. Yikes, that does not sound good.
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No, and it's crazy that like nothing happened. Like this
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was something that they couldn't have prevented. They didn't know
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it was in there. Yeah. Poor boy.
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Yeah.
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So they take him to a children's hospital and the
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doctor confirms the diagnosis. And she explains that treatment could involve,
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you know, casts and braces to avoid weight bearing on
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his hip. And he'd have to do that for up
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to five years. Plus they're talking about, he may even
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have to have total hip replacement.
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On a five-year-old boy.
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On this little guy.
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Yeah. That's crazy.
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Amy goes on to say, The thought of keeping an
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active five-year-old boy from running and playing for years was daunting.
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The doctor wanted us to return in a month for
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another x-ray. She expected to see further deterioration and would
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develop a treatment plan based on how the disease had progressed.
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During that month, Colton continued to have bouts of pain,
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and we did our best to limit his activity. Then
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our dear neighbor, who was the leader of our local congregation,
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asked our community to hold a special fast for Colton.
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Hundreds of people joined us in praying and fasting specifically
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for his healing. Before our follow-up appointment, Colton had another
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set of x-rays taken. When the orthopedic doctor came back
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into the room after comparing the new x-rays with the
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previous ones, she told us that she did not see
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the additional deterioration she had expected. In fact, she told
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us that she didn't need to proceed with the treatment plan.
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Colton was healed. He went on to become an incredibly
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active young man. He played football and became a competitive wrestler,
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even competing in national wrestling tournaments. When I watch him compete,
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I am reminded of how different his life could have been.
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To some, this may seem like a small miracle, but
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to our family, it felt like God had moved a mountain.
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That is so sweet.
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Well, we've heard this before, you know, somebody gets a
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diagnosis or an x-ray and then after a prayer, after
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a miracle, they're healed, like a complete healing. He goes
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on and he's a football player. He's a wrestler, complete healing. Yeah.
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So cool.
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Okay. So our final story today comes from John Thompson.
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And this is a story that you are going to
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have to hear to believe. We actually have this one
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on video.
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And it's incredible, but it's also quite gruesome. I will
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warn you. But amazing story. Yes.
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So hang in there. Here's John explaining what happened that day.
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So I was 18 years old, a senior in high
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school in Hurtsville, North Dakota, which is like 75 people
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in total population. And just working in my family's farm.
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And my parents had gone to Bismarck to visit somebody
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else in the hospital. And dad just told me to
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unload the grain from the grain truck into the hopper
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for pig feed. And so they took off. I got
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up in the morning like any other time. And I
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walked down to the grain bins to unload this truck.
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And I started unloading it and I was playing with
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my dog and just not paying attention. I've done this
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hundreds of other times. It's not that big of a
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deal to do. And I didn't have my shirt tucked in.
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And the front of my shirt got caught on the
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PTO shaft. And it started wrapping me in. It wrapped
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in my arms and just ripped both of them off
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right below the shoulders and the elbow. And I hit
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the ground and it was knocked unconscious. And I woke
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up with my dog licking my face, Tuffy. And I
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didn't know what happened. I knew something was wrong because
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I just didn't feel right. And I was trying to
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push myself up with my right arm and I wasn't moving.
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And then I noticed the right arm was completely gone.
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You know, I looked at myself again and realized what
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had happened. It sunk in. And I just started screaming
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for a quick second. And my dog luckily was there
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and he would just sit in front of me looking
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at me with his head cocked to the side, his
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little ears sticking up. And I just looked at his
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face and I just completely calmed down and I'm like, okay,
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we need to get up to the house. And I
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got up there and I was able to get the
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toe of my boot in between the storm door and
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the frame and get that door open. But then the
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main door was shut. So then I just, without thinking,
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dropped to my knees and bit it with my mouth
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and turned with my head to get in.
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That is horrific.
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Horrible. Yeah. So we're going to pause for a moment
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here just to kind of process everything that we just heard.
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John is in an accident where he's lost both of
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his arms. He's unconscious. His dog wakes him up.
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And he.
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Now he's inside the house. I mean, this is just
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a horrific accident that happened.
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Yeah.
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And he now has to figure out how to call
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for help. Now this was back in 1992 and his
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community that he was in didn't even have 911 yet.
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And so he has to figure out how to call
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for help without arms. So at first he tries using
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his nose to dial the numbers and that's not working.
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So then he finds a pencil he puts in his
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mouth and tries to dial the phone number for his cousin.
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He finally gets through and he says to her, I
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need an ambulance. I have no arms.
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Can you imagine?
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Yeah, I can't imagine what that phone call was like.
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And she didn't believe him at first. Oh, that's right.
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Yeah.
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No, I'm serious. So then he convinces her that this
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is real. She calls her stepmom. Her stepmom calls the ambulance.
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And eventually... the emergency crews arrive with an ambulance. And
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as they're loading John into an ambulance, one of the
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emergency crew members, name was Rick, he decides to go
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in the backyard and just see if he can find
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these arms.
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And as he's walking down there, my dog Tuffy was
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with him. And my one arm was laying right behind
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the tractor underneath the PTO shaft where the accident happened.
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And he couldn't find my second arm anywhere. And he
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looked around for a while. He could not find it.
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He's like, well, We need to get going. So he
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just grabbed my one arm. He thought my other arm
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fell in the hopper, the grain auger, and got dumped
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in the grain bin. He just sent somebody out later
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to pick it up. And Rick started walking back to
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the house with my arm, and my dog started barking
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at him. He's like, what's this dog barking about? And
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he turned around, and my dog, Tuffy, was standing over
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my other arm, which is thrown about 40 feet away
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in between the grain bins.
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Oh, wow.
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Yeah.
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Good old Tuffy.
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Yeah. So Tuffy again is there to help John. And
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Rick is able to find both arms. And so he
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gets these arms placed on ice right away. And John
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is then driven 28 miles to the closest hospital. But
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at this point, he's losing so much blood that this
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local hospital doesn't have enough blood to give him. So
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he needs to be flown to Minneapolis.
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Yeah.
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Meanwhile, his parents get word of what's happened. They're out
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of town, remember? They hear that their son has lost
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both arms, and they also book the first flight to Minneapolis.
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And John gets to this hospital. It's been hours since
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he's lost his arms. Doctors are running out of time,
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and a surgeon comes in to talk to John.
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He's like, John, I'm going to be your surgeon. We
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have to make two choices immediately. We are running out
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of time. He said, we can either put your arms
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on or leave them off. I said, I'm here. Put
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them on. He's like, well, before we can do this,
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you need to know the risks. Because if we put
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them on, you're not going to have normal use ever.
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You're going to be disabled the rest of your life.
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There's a high risk of infection. There's a higher risk
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of you losing your life. I said, I don't care,
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put them on. He's like, okay, let's go. I said, well, no,
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I can't do this. I said, I've never been in
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the hospital before. I was terrified. I said, I don't
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know what this is going to cost. I need to
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have my parents' permission. He's like, you're 18 years old.
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You don't need parents' permission. You know, all's we need
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is you're okay and we can do this. And I'm
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arguing this. I can't do this. I need to talk
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to my family first. Well, then it just so happened
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my dad walks in the emergency room right when I'm
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arguing with him about not wanting to do this. And
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my dad said, don't worry about it. Don't worry about
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the farm or the expenses. We'll get this taken care of.
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Just get in there and do what you need to do.
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Can you imagine making that decision at 18.
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Years of age? At 18 years old. Make this lifelong
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decision that you can't alter.
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So hard.
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00:20:48.619 --> 00:20:52.049
Yeah. So John's dad gets there and gives him the
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go ahead. John then has surgery to reattach these two
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arms that have been sitting on ice for several hours.
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00:20:59.470 --> 00:21:02.779
And doctors are hoping that maybe if they reattach the arms,
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00:21:02.839 --> 00:21:06.960
he could get some movement in his shoulders, possibly his elbows.
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00:21:07.740 --> 00:21:11.660
So they do this six hour long surgery and they
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reattach his arms. And then John wakes up from surgery
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and you know, the blood's not really circulating. It's seeming
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00:21:18.630 --> 00:21:20.349
like it's not going to work. The doctors are saying,
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we really think we need to amputate your arms. And
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John refuses and says, I don't want you to amputate
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my arms. Leave them. And John refuses and says, I
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don't want you to amputate my arms. Leave them. Well,
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within a couple of days, remarkably, the blood starts to flow.
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And miraculously, both arms survive. Even more miraculous is that
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the function that he has in his arms defies every
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doctor's expectations. So today, he can move both arms. He
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can grip objects. He can feel hot and cold. And
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he can do things like he can paint. He can
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do yard work. He can take care of his house. Yes,
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he lives completely independently. But John also looks back and
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recognizes that if his dog Tuffy hadn't woken him up
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when he was laying there bleeding, he likely wouldn't be
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here today.
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Without my dog, I wouldn't have lived. I mean, he's
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the one that woke me up. And I just think
427
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back to when he woke me up, I looked in
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my face, I got up, and I stood there, and
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I saw myself and what really had happened and realized it.
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I looked at him in his eyes, and I just
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immediately shut down. I just looked at him and focused
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on him, and I was immediately calm. I mean, if
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he hadn't been there, I just stood there just screaming
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and bled to death. He was the one that saved
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my life that day. He was the hero of the
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whole story.
437
00:23:04.619 --> 00:23:11.400
I can see you're emotional because it's kind of timely.
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00:23:12.119 --> 00:23:13.680
This is a hard one for me because I just
439
00:23:13.720 --> 00:23:15.839
had to put my dog down, as some of you know.
440
00:23:15.859 --> 00:23:19.460
I had to put little Pierre to sleep. So, you know,
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00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:21.700
Tuffy sounds like an amazing dog.
442
00:23:22.319 --> 00:23:26.450
I know. Amazing how much these little animals mean to us.
443
00:23:27.490 --> 00:23:30.410
And they really are little heroes a lot of times.
444
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Oh, yeah.
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I mean, dogs are amazing. They will do anything and
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even risk their own lives to protect their humans. And
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I want to just point out, you know, we actually
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00:23:41.480 --> 00:23:44.650
may have different beliefs than John. He wasn't sure whether
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00:23:44.690 --> 00:23:47.529
or not, you know, this was a miracle. And we
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00:23:47.710 --> 00:23:50.470
absolutely credit Tuffy as a hero and we credit God.
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00:23:51.279 --> 00:23:54.599
as intervening on John's behalf. And we're so grateful that
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00:23:55.720 --> 00:23:59.599
this story had such a positive outcome. And we also
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00:23:59.940 --> 00:24:02.069
want to just thank all of the people who shared
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00:24:02.220 --> 00:24:04.569
their stories with us today. All of you who continue
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00:24:04.589 --> 00:24:07.549
to send in stories, they are incredible. And honestly- Although
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00:24:07.569 --> 00:24:09.569
quit making me cry, people.
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00:24:09.890 --> 00:24:10.250
Seriously.
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00:24:10.569 --> 00:24:13.109
No, keep making her cry. Keep doing it.
459
00:24:13.130 --> 00:24:15.690
Oh, this was a bad one. I got super emotional today.
460
00:24:15.750 --> 00:24:17.279
I'm sorry. I apologize.
461
00:24:17.740 --> 00:24:18.220
It's okay.
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00:24:18.480 --> 00:24:18.980
I like it.
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00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:22.380
I think it's sweet. But honestly, I love how different
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every story is. And I think it's just a testament
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to how God sees us all individually and loves us
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00:24:28.440 --> 00:24:33.069
each and intervenes in our lives in different ways when
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00:24:33.089 --> 00:24:33.490
we need it.
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And even when things don't go as planned, He is there.
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00:24:37.230 --> 00:24:40.109
Absolutely. All right. Well, thank you, John. If you want
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00:24:40.170 --> 00:24:42.450
to hear the rest of John's story, you can get
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00:24:42.509 --> 00:24:45.859
his book. It's called Home in One Piece. And we
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00:24:45.880 --> 00:24:48.880
will also post in our show notes where you can
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00:24:48.940 --> 00:24:50.759
find him to follow him on social media.
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Yes. Thank you, everyone, for listening. And make sure to
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00:24:54.059 --> 00:24:56.799
share this episode with your friends. We'll see you next time.
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00:24:59.640 --> 00:25:01.829
Thank you for joining us. If you have a miracle
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00:25:01.869 --> 00:25:05.730
to share, contact us at themiraclefiles.com or find us on
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00:25:05.789 --> 00:25:09.650
social media. We release new episodes each Monday. Yes.
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00:25:09.690 --> 00:25:13.650
So don't forget Miracle Mondays. Subscribe on your favorite podcast
480
00:25:13.690 --> 00:25:17.210
platform and YouTube for amazing video content as well.
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00:25:17.670 --> 00:25:20.759
Join us next time as we discover more of God's miracles.
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00:25:21.119 --> 00:25:23.099
And don't forget to look for His light in your
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own lives.
