AMAZING STORY
Man Survives Near-Fatal Jet Ski Accident That Left Him Drowning Under Water
By Rod Thomas
The 700 Club
CBN.com- Pastor John Galinetti always cut loose on his jet ski. This day was no different -- until he lost control. Shortly after the crash, boaters found him unconscious. They got him to shore and performed CPR.
Paramedics arrived, and gave a report to the 911 dispatcher. At the hospital, ER staff worked furiously to save their patient.
His wife, Wendy remembers the call. "They're calling from the emergency room. He was on the jet ski. He had an accident. Somebody had to pull him out of the water. He’s breathing, but I don't have any other information."
Meanwhile, doctors had induced John into a coma. Close friend and physician, Dr. Robert Bouvier spoke to the staff. “His prognosis was grave,” Dr. Bouvier remembers. “He was not expected to live, probably 2% or less. The main problem was that he had heart failure, water had filled his lungs and we were certainly worried about that his brain was compromised because he was down in between somewhere between 6 to 12 minutes. Anything over four minutes we consider that person probably to be brain dead.”
When Wendy saw her husband, she was shocked. “He's twice the size of himself because he's taken in so much water,” she said. “They've got a tube down his throat. He threw up lots of water but then he started to not be able to breathe very well, so they intubated him.”
The doctors didn’t know if John would live or what shape he would be in if he did. Wendy turned to God. “I saw what we were up against and then my determination was, ‘well, we're going to have to pray. We're going to have to get people together and we're not going to look at how bad the situation looks, we're going to look to God and His promises.’”
As their church prayed, doctors told the family to prepare for the worst. “When the prognosis is grave, when it's as poor as it was and you call the family, it’s kind of a prep for the inevitable,” Dr. Bouvier said. But they continued to trust God. In fact, a worldwide prayer chain was started.
The next day, John came out of the coma. “It was amazing,” Wendy said. “The next morning, he’s writing. His first words were, ‘big wave.’ Then the second is, ‘Michigan plays at 3:30.’ And I thought, ‘Well, if he can remember that Michigan’s playing at 3:30, he must be okay.’”
Writing on a pad, he asked that scriptures be placed on the walls. “Every time a waking moment, I want to see the Word of God, I want to see God's promises of healing and restoration for my life,” John said. “And there was one of them that captivated me that the Holy Spirit took and made it like a Rhema word for me, and that was Jeremiah 30:17. It says, ‘I'll restore health to you and heal you of your wounds, says the Lord.’ I couldn’t get my eyes off of it.”
Still, doctors expected a long recovery and permanent damage. But as John meditated on scripture, and others continued praying, he started improving. Within the week, John went home. “It was amazing because really he was only in the hospital six days. Six days! When he almost died, almost drowned, and six days later we're coming home,” Wendy said.
“My personal doctor on that Friday of my release met with me, and said, "we hardly ever, ever see anything like this, because it was such a miraculous recovery.” John said.
Dr. Bouvier was amazed as well. “Having the heart stop and the lungs stop and the brain function stop, and then come back to life again, that's the miracle. That just doesn't happen.”
Today, John is back in the pulpit, and knows that having his life back is truly a gift from God. “It's absolutely astounding, what has transpired and what God will do regardless of the circumstances that people are in. It's nothing that God can't bring you through when you fully trust Him and put the whole circumstance into His hands.”
“How circumstances can align themselves so perfect that an outcome happens that you know it was God. It was God that happened,” Dr. Bouvier said.
For John, his life has taken on new meaning, "The peace that passes all understanding. Jesus came walking in on the storms of my life and said, ‘peace be still’ and just brought an inner confidence and resolve and where I could also lay hold of the promises of healing that He gave me for full restoration in my life.”
CBN IS HERE FOR YOU!
Are you seeking answers in life? Are you hurting?
Are you facing a difficult situation?
A caring friend will be there to pray with you in your time of need.
