- For emergency medicine physicians,

one of the scariest emergencieswe see is lack of an airway.

When I saw her, I knewwe better do something

and do it quick becauseshe was going down fast.

- [Reporter] In March 2016,

Lorraine Besson went to the hospital

for what was supposed to be

a low-risk spinal fusion surgery.

Her sister-in-law Angelaremembers the day.

- I was worried about Lorraine.

It was a serious surgerywhere they had to go in

from the front to work on her back

and it seemed to go okayand then it was then

when she was at home laterthat things kinda went south.

- [Reporter] Two days later,while at home recovering,

Lorraine struggled to breathe.

She was rushed to thehospital by ambulance.

Soon after, her brotherNeal got a phone call

with terrible news.

- One of her children sawher come out of the ambulance

at the hospital

and she said that shetotally looked lifeless.

That was very alarming to hear,

so I knew it was a critical situation.

- When we got the first call,all I could do was pray,

just ask for God's intercession,

to intervene on this situation

because I knew it wasreally. really serious,

and I honestly didn't know

if she was gonna make it at that point.

- [Reporter] In the emergencyroom, Dr. Lura Wight knew

something was blocking Lorraine's airway,

yet was unable to insert a breathing tube

due to the swelling in Lorraine's neck.

- It was quite obvious to all of us

that she needed to be intubated.

I looked at her neck

and I just had this sense of foreboding

that told me just this is not an option.

This is not a viable option

to get an airway on this patient.

We were able to keep her oxygenated

while we were waiting foranesthesia to get there,

and I chose to do that

rather than make an incision in her neck.

- [Reporter] The anesthesiologist arrived

and was soon able to establish an airway.

They then found the sourceof Lorraine's swelling,

stemming from her previous surgery.

- She had a nick in her thyroid artery,

and the blood was slowlyleaking out of that artery

into her neck.

Had we put an incisionin her throat anteriorly

to put a breathing tube in,

she quite frankly could have bled to death

right there on the table.

- [Reporter] Lorraine was movedto the ICU on a ventilator

in a drug-induced coma.

Her family continued to pray.

- We kinda came in whenwe were given a chance to

and prayed with Lorrainethere in the room in the ICU,

and it was frightening

to see her lying on her back like that.

- [Reporter] After 10 days,

Lorraine began breathing on her own.

Her family was thankfulthat she was alive,

yet concerned that she mayhave suffered brain damage

due to the lack of oxygen.

- I thought for surewithout oxygen for that long

she was gonna have severe damage

to her cognitive functioning.

- [Reporter] She was sent torehab to continue her recovery.

Dr. Martin Setliff wasthe attending physician.

- She was having difficultythe first few days

even recalling what shedid even the previous hour,

and she also had a mildcomponent of anoxic brain injury,

which indicates that in the period of time

that her airway was blocked

she was unable to get adequateblood flow to her brain.

I did have concerns thatgiven the nature of her injury

and the severity of it

that her time on ourunit could be anywhere

from three to four weeks possibly.

She fortunately was able toundermine my original estimation

and she got out of the rehabunit within about 13 days.

- [Reporter] Lorrainemade a full recovery.

She is grateful for theprayers and miracles

that kept her alive every step of the way.

- I know that Jesus isalive and well today

and that he does still do miracles.

I'm proof of that.

I should not be sittinghere telling you my story.

It was only through theintervention of God.

He had his hand on it fromthe beginning to the end,

from the ambulance allthe way to the surgery

where I was unable tobreathe and not in danger.

- I am a firm believer inif God is ready for you,

you will go,

and if God is not ready foryou, you aren't going anywhere.

And I've seen this happentime and time again.

I've had people walk intomy ER and six hours later,

they're on a vent, deathly ill, and die.

I've had them come like Miss Besson,

critically ill, on death's door,

and end up walking out ofthe hospital two weeks later.

In all of this, physicians play a role in,

but the ultimate decider

of who survives and who does not is God.

- It's been five yearssince this happened,

and I still will ask people, strangers,

would you like to hear my miracle story?

And I can't tell you how manytimes I've told them my story,

and then they say,

"Thank you so much fortelling me your story.

"I needed to hear that today."