Miracle in Minnesota

MEDICAL LAKE — Do you believe in miracles? Whatever your answer, between Dec. 12 – 14 you have the opportunity to hear one story that witnesses — including physicians and emergency medical services personnel — later called a miracle.

On Martin Luther King Day, Jan. 19, 2015, 14-year-old John Smith and two of his friends walked out onto the ice of Lake St. Louise in St. Charles, Mo. — and fell through. While his two friends were quickly rescued, John disappeared, sinking below the surface.

EMS personnel arrived and pulled John’s body — “completely lifeless, limp as a noodle, no breathing, nothing,” as described to local TV station KSDK by Wentzville Fire Capt. Tommy Shine — from the ice-cold water 15 minutes later. They started CPR immediately.

When they arrived at the local hospital emergency John’s body temperature was 88 degrees, Dr. Kent Sutterer, the attending physician in the ER that day, later told KSDK.

“In my mind, this is a very grim, very poor chance of survival,” Sutterer said.

Nearly an hour after John had sunk into the icy water and continuous CPR since, Sutterer informed his mother, Joyce Smith, of the bad news.

But instead of accepting that her adopted Guatemalan son since he was five-months old was dead, Joyce began to earnestly pray at his bedside.

“I just prayed, ‘Holy Spirit, please bring my son back,’” she said during a phone interview.

Then, two minutes later, John’s heart began beating again. But other vital signs remained “incompatible with life,” Sutterer told KSDK.

John woke up about three days later, Joyce said. Seven days later doctors removed his ventilator. One of the first things he asked his mother was, “Did I drown?”

People who survive drowning rarely do so unscathed, and often suffer diminished brain function.

But not only did John come back to life, he did so completely — no negative neurological effects, no seizures, “all the things we expect in these things,” Sutterer told KSDK four months later. “He’s completely the same boy that he was before.”

Only 16 days after he was admitted to the hospital with no heartbeat for nearly an hour, John walked out on his own two feet.

Dr. Jeremy Garrett, the physician responsible for John’s recovery effort called it a “bona fide miracle.”

While rare, the so-called Lazarus syndrome — people pronounced dead after failed CPR attempts spontaneously return to normal cardiopulmonary activity — is not unheard of. The British Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine reported in 2007 of 38 know cases, and suggested that the phenomenon is probably underreported.

But whether you see John’s recovery as a miracle or a fluke phenomenon, Joyce and her pastor at the time, Jason Noble, choose to see a clear miracle. Both have published books about the event.

In March, Noble published “Breakthrough to your Miracle,” that leverages John’s miraculous recovery to explain why more Christian believers don’t see more miracles.

Joyce published her own book in 2017, “The Impossible: the miraculous story of a mother faith and her child’s resurrection,” that has since been made into a $15 million full-length feature film called “Breakthrough” which debuted in April. It has since grossed over $50 million worldwide, according to the movie database IMDB.

Noble — the son of Medical Lake’s Redemption Church Associate Pastor Dennis Noble, and brother-in-law of lead pastor Nick Hawkins — has since focused on making the film and speaking engagements.

“My congregation went from one congregation to the nation and the world,” he said during a phone interview. “It’s given us a pretty incredible platform.”

Joyce and Noble are coming to Medical Lake for three days next month.

They will be at the Redemption Church for two events, starting on Friday, Dec. 13 for a Christmas dinner at 6:30 p.m. at the church. Tickets are required and can be purchased from the church by calling 509-299-3139.

They will also speak at two church services the following Sunday at 9 and 10:45 a.m.

“I think it’s a great time for anyone to come in and be inspired,” Hawkins said.

A book signing is also scheduled at Farm Salvation at 106 S. Lefevre St., Medical Lake, between 1 – 3 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 14.

John will not be attending the event due to college commitments. He is studying to become a pastor at North Central University in Minneapolis.

Lee Hughes can be reached at [email protected].