Buzz
Every day, accidents occur, ranging from minor mishaps to severe, life-threatening events. Similarly, illnesses can strike unexpectedly, leaving many without hope as they await the worst. Yet, the individuals featured here confronted near-certain death after enduring devastating accidents or being diagnosed with fatal diseases. Remarkably, they all experienced miraculous recoveries.
10. Okkhoy
A father frantically holding his seven-year-old son, who was bleeding profusely, while rushing to the nearest hospital on a rickshaw is a rare and heart-wrenching sight. This was the reality for a young boy named Okkhoy and his father in Bangladesh back in 2010.
A group of four men brutally assaulted the boy just a few hours prior. Displaying a complete disregard for human life, they struck the boy on the head with a heavy brick after binding his hands and feet. To add to the cruelty, they carved an inverted cross into his body and severed his penis and one of his testicles.
Okkhoy was enticed away from his secure home by three other children, who offered him a treat in exchange for accompanying them. Growing uneasy, Okkhoy attempted to return home, but the group of men seized him. They tried to coerce him into begging for money. When the boy threatened to inform his father, they responded with a savage attack, leaving him for dead.
Okkhoy’s mother discovered her son lying near a warehouse, surrounded by blood. His father, upon finding them, immediately rushed his son to the hospital using the only transportation available to him: a rickshaw.
Despite the horrific ordeal, Okkhoy made an extraordinary recovery after three months in the hospital. However, even two years later, he bore the physical scars of the attack and remained fearful of the dark. His story gained global attention, leading surgeons at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore to successfully reconstruct a functional penis for him.
9. Janne Kouri
In August 2006, Janne Kouri, a 31-year-old former star football player on the brink of attracting NFL attention and the director of a social network, was enjoying a beach volleyball game with friends on a California beach. Life had been kind to him until that moment.
On that picturesque day, Janne decided to take a quick swim between matches and dashed into the ocean. Tragedy struck as he dove into the waves, hitting a sandbar with his head. The impact severely damaged his spinal cord, leaving him paralyzed instantly.
Rushed to the hospital, Janne’s girlfriend and family were delivered the heartbreaking news that he would never walk again. He spent the next two months in the ICU, fighting for his life and battling pneumonia twice. His once-promising future now seemed bleak and uncertain.
Janne urged his girlfriend, Susan, to leave him, insisting she shouldn’t bear the burden of his care. Susan, however, remained steadfast, refusing to abandon hope for his recovery. After numerous setbacks in their search for solutions, the couple discovered a doctor in Louisville. Sharing Susan’s name, it felt like fate had guided them to this physician, who offered a glimmer of hope for Janne’s recovery.
Dr. Susan Harkema’s prediction proved accurate. Five years later, Janne Kouri achieved the seemingly impossible by standing unaided without a walker. This milestone was the result of relentless dedication to a specialized training regimen known as loco-motor training. Inspired by his journey, Janne and Susan established a non-profit rehabilitation center to provide others in similar situations access to this transformative therapy.
During his ongoing recovery, Janne and Susan decided to marry, solidifying their bond and proving that together, they could overcome any challenge.
8. Randon Timmons
In 2014, 18-year-old Randon Timmons nearly lost his life due to a dangerous activity known as “skitching.” In Van Buren, Indiana, some thrill-seeking teenagers engage in this risky practice, which involves grabbing onto a moving vehicle and being towed while balancing on a skateboard.
Randon was engaged in this risky activity when his skateboard struck a road irregularity, sending him airborne. He landed headfirst on the hard pavement, resulting in severe injuries.
Upon examination, doctors found minimal brain activity and were forced to remove a significant portion of his skull to alleviate intense brain swelling. The prognosis was grim, with little expectation that Randon would survive the night.
As Randon’s father and family remained by his side, the Van Buren community rallied together, organizing a prayer vigil, a concert, and a walk-a-thon to show their support for the family.
Miraculously, after several weeks, Randon’s condition improved sufficiently for him to be discharged from the hospital. His father, Randy, who had previously lost his brother and father in a car accident, refused to lose hope. He continuously expressed his love and determination, believing that these emotions, along with prayers, played a crucial role in his son’s recovery from the traumatic brain injury.
Although Randon has sustained some lasting effects, such as mild memory loss and slight personality changes, doctors are optimistic about his ability to live a normal life. However, he is now required to wear a helmet during certain activities, a precaution stemming from the fact that he wasn’t wearing one during the accident.
7. Alcides Moreno
Alcides Moreno’s wife wasn’t disturbed when he reached out to touch another woman’s face, even though it was a gesture reserved for her. At the time, he was lying in a hospital bed, and no one expected him to survive, let alone regain the ability to move his hand or speak.
Alcides and his brother Edgar were cleaning windows on the 47th floor of a building in Manhattan’s Upper East Side when their platform unexpectedly gave way, plummeting to the ground. They landed in an alleyway, where Edgar tragically died instantly. Alcides, however, remained conscious and was sitting upright when emergency responders arrived.
Upon arriving at the hospital, Alcides was barely conscious, and medical tests revealed the severity of his injuries. In addition to significant brain trauma, he sustained spinal damage, a fractured arm, broken ribs, and two shattered legs, among other injuries. Following an initial emergency surgery, he underwent nine additional operations.
Doctors were astonished when Alcides Moreno spoke after enduring such severe trauma. On Christmas Day in 2007, his wife, Rosario, wasn’t present when Alcides mistook a nurse for her and reached out to touch her face. However, she was there to witness him utter his first words since the accident, as he simply asked, “What did I do?”
At the time, doctors anticipated that Alcides would make a full recovery within a year and regain his ability to walk. When interviewed about her husband’s miraculous recovery, Rosario had one final statement: he would not be returning to his previous job.
6. Elijah Belden
A birthday celebration for nine-year-old Elijah Belden in October 2014 nearly ended in tragedy due to a bizarre accident. While posing for a photo with a friend, Elijah touched a metal support structure on his home’s patio. Unbeknownst to anyone, the pole had become electrified by outdoor lighting, resulting in the boy being electrocuted.
Elijah was placed in a medically induced coma by doctors. After 10 days filled with uncertainty and fear, he woke up. When medical staff asked for his name, he responded correctly, marking the beginning of what doctors and his father described as a miraculous recovery.
Just two weeks after emerging from the coma, Elijah began rehabilitation and was soon able to walk outside. Following this progress, doctors planned to test him on a treadmill and anticipated discharging him within a week. Elijah and his family are now focused on his return to baseball practice.
5. Rachel Lozano
Rachel Lozano was diagnosed with an Askin’s tumor in high school and bravely battled this rare cancer throughout her remaining school years.
The cancer entered remission twice, achieved through numerous surgeries, including a bone marrow transplant. Rachel remained hopeful, embracing both small triumphs and setbacks with resilience. Even when chemotherapy caused her hair to fall out, she turned her bald head into a canvas, accepting each challenge as it came.
However, devastating news followed: the cancer returned for a third time. Doctors informed Rachel that the tumor would likely end her life within weeks, depending on which organ it affected first.
As a final attempt, Rachel agreed to one last surgery to remove the tumor. During the procedure, doctors were baffled to find no trace of the tumor or any cancerous tissue in her body. They concluded the surgery without performing any removal.
The hospital could not explain the disappearance of the tumor, and doctors later admitted they had no medical rationale for its absence or for Rachel’s survival.
In a 2013 interview, Rachel, who had been cancer-free for nine years, described her recovery as nothing short of a miracle. She also shared that she attended an honor ceremony for Father William Chaminade in 2000 and visited his grave, where she prayed for healing.
The St. Louis Archdiocese declared Rachel’s recovery a miracle, potentially marking it as the second miracle linked to Chaminade, which could lead to his canonization as a saint.
4. Sam Schmid
In October 2011, Sam Schmid, a University of Arizona junior, experienced a life-altering event when he was involved in a catastrophic five-car collision. The Jeep he was in hit a light pole and flipped, leaving him in critical condition with two fractured legs, a broken left hand, and severe brain trauma. He was airlifted to the hospital for urgent care.
At the hospital, the situation worsened, and Sam was placed on life support. After surgery for a brain aneurysm led to a stroke, doctors gently prepared his family for the possibility of the worst outcome.
Neurosurgeon Robert Spetzler, who performed the surgery on Schmid, was baffled by his patient’s lack of responsiveness post-operation, as scans showed no fatal injuries. Trusting his instincts, Spetzler chose to keep Sam on life support for an extended period.
A few hours before the hospital planned to disconnect Sam from life support, Spetzler ordered a new MRI scan. Surprisingly, the scan revealed significant improvements in Sam’s condition. That same day, Sam began responding to his surroundings and following doctors’ instructions.
By December 2011, Sam had regained the ability to walk with the aid of a walker and could speak almost normally again. However, he has no memory of the accident that nearly took his life.
3. Luke Burgie
Pope Francis himself declared the recovery of four-year-old Luke Burgie from an unexplained illness a miracle. In 1998, the young boy suddenly became ill, suffering from severe diarrhea and intense pain after eating. Despite consultations with specialists at a Denver hospital, no one could determine the cause of his condition.
By January of the following year, Luke’s health had deteriorated significantly. He was rapidly losing weight, and no treatments seemed to help. In desperation, his parents sought the help of two nuns, who prayed to Mother Maria Theresia Bonzel, founder of the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration in 1863, who had passed away over a century earlier. The prayer session lasted nine days.
Meanwhile, doctors theorized that Luke might have a tumor and scheduled a colonoscopy. However, when his parents brought him to the hospital for the procedure, Luke was no longer ill. His mother recounted that he had suddenly jumped up from the couch one afternoon, declaring that his stomach pain had vanished.
Luke’s mother was convinced a miracle had occurred. While skeptics questioned the event, even suggesting the parents had fabricated the illness for attention, Pope Francis sided with Jan Burgie. Fourteen years after Luke’s recovery, the Pope officially recognized the event as a miracle.
2. Nicole Graham
By the time Nicole Graham’s junior prom arrived, she had not only overcome cancer but also survived two strokes. At the start of her junior year in high school, when she should have been focused on homework and crushes, Nicole was instead grappling with a leukemia diagnosis. Rather than spending time with friends or discussing the latest celebrity drama, she began undergoing chemotherapy.
Nicole’s journey since her diagnosis was fraught with challenges, including two strokes, organ failure, sepsis, and temporary paralysis. Despite these major setbacks, she persevered and eventually made a remarkable recovery.
Her recovery was astonishingly swift. After starting rehabilitation, she went from being unable to sit up to running around in just two months. Throughout this period, she received unwavering support from her family, friends, and boyfriend.
Shortly after leaving the hospital, Nicole returned to her lacrosse team and was named captain. Her peers also honored her by voting her homecoming queen, celebrating her incredible recovery.
1. Lesley Bunning
In 2014, the H1N1 virus claimed over 300 lives in California alone. When 61-year-old Lesley Bunning was diagnosed with the virus in January 2014, her family rushed her to the emergency room as her condition rapidly worsened.
At the hospital, Lesley’s situation grew even more critical. To her family’s shock, she was placed on life support and into a medically induced coma. She remained in this state for 10 weeks, with doctors exhausting all efforts to save her and her family praying for a miracle.
After medical experts had tried every known treatment and even sought advice from other specialists, Lesley still couldn’t breathe independently. As her family was being prepared for her likely passing, she suddenly began breathing on her own, leaving doctors utterly astonished.
Doctors successfully removed her from the ventilator, as it was no longer needed. A feeding tube was inserted to aid her recovery, and her family received the incredible news. One physician even described her recovery as nothing short of miraculous.
Lesley Bunning has vowed never to skip her flu shot again, admitting she avoided it before contracting the virus. Now, she is committed to getting vaccinated regularly and ensuring her family does the same.
