From Dead To Life

“His physicality was slowly getting worse and worse,” Laura Ricker said about her husband’s condition. “He just couldn't stand up straight. He had never had anything serious like that before, you know, because he's so active. My partner in life may not be here. Will he survive?”

For many years, Darryl Ricker and his wife, Laura, have been strong advocates for physical activity in their community on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana. But a nasty fall while working on their home put Darryl’s lifestyle at risk.

“A Really strong wind came and blew the door, and it knocked him backwards,” Laura said. “He was on the ground and he had hit his head. ‘Are you okay? Do you want to go to Emergency?’ He said, ‘No, I think I'll be okay.’ I know that he hit pretty hard on the concrete. It seemed like that was the beginning of some things going on with him. He would say, ‘I feel weird. I feel kind of dizzy sometimes, and I'm a little off.’”

Shortly after the fall, Daryll got into an altercation while defending his daughter. He took another severe blow to the head in the fight. Again, Daryll tried to walk it off, but his health quickly deteriorated.

“He just was off balance,” Laura said. “He said, ‘My eye is all red, can you look at my eye?’ I looked, and it wasn’t right, so we ended up calling my niece in Wisconsin who is a registered nurse. She said, ‘You know, it sounds like he's having a stroke, get him to Emergency, like, right now.’ That’s when we ended up going to the hospital. When they took a CAT scan, they realized that he was having a massive stroke. It’s a shock.”

Darryl stabilized within two days and was released home to await an appointment with his neurologist, but that’s when things took a turn for the worse.

“He started forgetting things,” Laura said. “He fell several times. He couldn't even sit up on his own. You would look at him and you knew that something was going on because he would look at you with a blank look. We called the ambulance. They came, and they had to put him on a stretcher and carried him out. This is life and death. Everything was turned upside down. You're losing that person that you love so much, and you’re preparing for what you might have to do and then possibly a life alone.”

Darryl was airlifted out of the reservation and taken into emergency surgery after he was found to have a brain bleed. At the same time, Laura contacted her church and everyone else she could think of to ask for prayer.

“Prayers were coming from everywhere. We had people praying in different states, just rallying around us. It was like, ‘You're not alone in this.’ In my heart it was a tremendous feeling of comfort, like God was wrapping his arms around you and working through these people and saying that, ‘It’ll be okay.’

However, Darryl’s condition worsened after the first surgery. With his life on the line, Laura refused to give up and the prayers continued to flow in. Then a breakthrough – the bleeding stopped.

“Daryl came out of surgery and he's talking,” Laura said. “It was instantaneous, and I was just amazed, like, ‘You’re back!’ God sustained him and healed him. That neurologist, she called him ‘Miracle Man.’ She even realized that this was not normal, that there was something that happened. Something incredible.”

“I believe God did heal me, I really believe that,” Darryl said. “It was good to be with my wife. I think it'll take the rest of my life to thank her.”

Darryl was back home within days. He didn’t require any physical therapy and was able to start running with Laura again in no time. It’s been two years since his brain bleed, and Darryl is now stronger than ever, even training for an Ironman Triathlon. The Rickers credit God for his survival and use his testimony to encourage others within the Native American community.

“We are such a small population, but we have the highest rate of heart attacks, strokes, diabetes,” Laura said. “I honestly believe that God did this to help the Native People to see that there is hope. Darryl is a walking miracle, he should be gone. I'm just so thankful. Prayer is very powerful.”

“I am grateful for God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit,” Darryl said. “God had bigger plans than I even had for myself. I'm glad to be here, and I'm glad for this opportunity. I'll cherish it for the rest of my life.”