Dead Boy Walking

I love to hear God stories… little and big examples of God moving here, now, in my family, at your job, in their marriage, in your-town USA, or in Shell, Ecuador.

This is a God story.

More than a week ago a helicopter brought a small boy to the Emergency Room door. He had a quiet face and was thin but healthy, dark hair, dark eyes, maybe three and a half feet tall. A bloody stick as thick as my index finger was embedded his head. Was he at death’s door? His father thought so.

A CAT SCAN showed the full, hard-to-absorb truth. The stick penetrated at least three+ inches into the brain. The doctors and residents shook their heads in shocked amazement. The OR staff hurriedly prepared.  Prayers were said. The surgeons removed the stick. All the staff marveled at it sitting in a jar full of crystal clear saline solution. It was hard NOT to look at. Everyone marveled. End day one.

Bruce, his father, and the stick floating in the jar at the foot of the bed.

Day 2 – ICU. Induced coma. All quiet. Wait.

Day 3 – Coma continues. Wait.

Day 4 – Awake. Arms and legs move.

Day 5 – Eating very small amounts. Trouble swallowing.

Day 6 – Walking. Speaking. Trouble with some words.

Day 8 – Bruce’s father speaks at the chapel service.

Day 12 – Bruce and his family leave the hospital but stay nearby for physical therapy.

This past Sunday at the hospital chapel service the young father of this boy shared his faith story and the impact of this unexpected turn of events.  Bruce stood quietly in his hospital gown and listened -- half of his head shaved; his stapled scar showing. 

When Bruce's father was a young boy, he had given his life to the Lord, but as an adult he fell away from his faith when he became involved in local jungle politics which involved drinking at the meetings and soon he found himself on a downward spiral. As his faith diminished, his wife’s grew stronger. He knew God longed for him to change, but he continued to turn away.

Then last week, minutes after he arrived at work, a runner informed him that his son had fallen 6-7 meters (18-20 feet) while gathering fruit from a tree and had landed on a stick. Upon seeing the boy, he thought he was as good as dead.

Aeromed was called and it flew Bruce to our hospital for surgery, then an induced coma in the ICU and many days of waiting, praying, and waiting.

During this process the father realized that the Lord had been trying to get his attention for a long time and he had ignored it. In his translated words, “I have heard the Lord very clearly twice in my life. This was the second time. I repented and gave my heart back to Him.” 

A lost sheep rescued by the Good Shepherd -- that's one happy chapter in this story. Another is the odds Bruce has overcome. Surviving the fall. Surviving the block of time involved from the jungle to the OR. Then the successful surgery. And how about the many days Bruce has had with his family since he awoke from his coma -- what a gift. So many similar situations have ended in the ambulance on the way to the hospital or in the ER with tears and final goodbyes.

Bruce isn't out of the woods yet. Two days after he left the hospital, he started having seizures. He has been transferred to the Quito hospital and your prayers will follow him there.

Bruce with his parents, Jay and I, and a fellow patient
 who joined us for the picture. Her son was recovering form pneumonia.

A dad's heart turned back to his family and his Heavenly Father. A boy given two more precious weeks with his family and, hopefully, more.

That’s a God story.

Witnessing HIStory in Ecuador,

~ The Allisons