Christian Headlines Blog Christian Blog and Commentary

Act now to share the love of Christ in the Middle East

Teen Dead for 45 Minutes Comes Back to Life as Mother Prays

  • Carrie Dedrick Religious persecution, missions, Christianity around the world
  • Updated Feb 06, 2015

A Missouri teen who fell through ice on Lake Sainte Louise and was clinically dead for 45 minutes has miraculously came back to life after his mother said a fervent prayer

According to Christian News Network, John Smith, 14, was playing on the lake with two friends when all three fell through the ice. One boy made it out of the water and another boy held to a piece of ice, but it took rescuers 15 minutes to find Smith. 

By the time Smith arrived at a local hospital, he had been clinically dead for 45 minutes and had received 30 minutes of CPR. When Dr. Ken Sutterer informed Smith’s mother, Joyce Smith, of the grim news, she started praying. 

“I don’t remember what all I said,” Joyce Smith told a local news station afterward. “But I remember, ‘Holy God, please send your Holy Spirit to save my son. I want my son, please save him.'”

Immediately after Smith’s prayer, her son started showing signs of life. 

“[A]ll of a sudden I heard them saying, ‘We got a pulse; we got a pulse,’” she said. 

Another one of Smith’s physicians, Dr. Jeremy Garrett, called the incident “a bonafide miracle.” 

The teen was able to return home after a stay in the hospital for rehabilitation. 

“I don’t remember much about it to be honest. Hearing what the doctors and the paramedics said, I’m pretty surprised at the outcome,” John Smith said. 

“I’m surprised I’m alive, but it’s a real miracle that I’m alive, and I thank God I’m alive. There’s a reason I’m alive, so I’m just going to kind of follow what God has in store for me throughout my life.”

Publication date: February 6, 2015