Doctors Bewildered by a True Healing Miracle

What began as a simple morning of shopping quickly became a life-and-death emergency for Melody Snelen and her mother, Joy—a day neither of them will ever forget.

Melody was preparing to spend the morning shopping with her mother when she received an unsettling phone call that immediately made her heart drop.

MELODY: “I'm like, I need help. I need help. Her voice sounded like a whisper... a cry for help and desperation. It was like she was using every bit of strength just to speak. I knew I had no time to delay.”
Rushing to her mother’s home with her young nephew, Melody found Joy sitting on the curb outside, clutching her chest.

Melody quickly helped her mother into the car and started driving toward the nearest hospital. But only minutes into the drive, the situation worsened drastically.

MELODY: “All of a sudden she vomits on the floor, and then her body contorts into this locked position. She stopped breathing. My hand went out, and I just started pumping her chest—doing everything I could.”
They arrived at the hospital with Joy unresponsive. Medical staff rushed her into the emergency room, but despite continuous CPR, doctors were unable to find a pulse.

MELODY: “I knew my mom was dead. I could feel it. But I refused to accept it. Something in me said, ‘This isn’t over.’”

Joy had been shocked more than ten times with no response. By this point, she had gone 39 minutes without a heartbeat or oxygen—an interval that typically results in death or irreversible brain injury.
Just as doctors were preparing to call the time of death, Dr. Brittany Owensby decided to try one final, unconventional method.

DR. OWENSBY: “Instead of one defibrillator, you hook the patient up to two, so the shocks hit the heart from multiple directions. We charged them both, shocked at the same time, and it brought her out of the abnormal rhythm—briefly. She lost a pulse again, so we repeated CPR and the double defibrillation. This time it worked permanently.”

Further testing revealed that Joy had a 100% blockage in her heart. She immediately received a stent and was placed in a medically induced coma to allow her brain and body to heal.

Her son-in-law, Dr. Kevin Crismond, prepared the family for devastating possibilities.

DR. CRISMOND: “Because she had received CPR for so long, I knew the risk of brain damage was extremely high. I wanted the family to be prepared for that.”

Five days after her heart attack—despite all medical expectations—Joy woke up.

JOY: “I had no pain. No fear. I felt peace, not knowing what I had gone through. I had no idea consciously what had happened.”

Within days she was walking, eating, and regaining strength. She left rehab with no permanent injuries. Statistically, Joy became part of the 3% of people who survive this type of heart attack and go on to make a full recovery.

Dr. Owensby later reflected on the rarity of such an outcome.

DR. OWENSBY: “It was unknown if she would have a full neurologic recovery. When I learned the breathing tube was out and she was talking and moving all her limbs, I thought, ‘What a true miracle.’”

For Joy, surviving death was more than medical fortune—it was spiritual intervention.

JOY: “I just wanted to worship and praise God for helping me understand what He wanted me to realize. 

He chose to bring me back from the dead. Nothing—absolutely nothing—is impossible with God.”

Melody says the experience deepened her faith forever.

MELODY: “The peace I have, knowing God was working this miracle and that I got to witness it, has stayed with me.”

Today, Joy is fully healed and continues to inspire others with her remarkable story.

JOY: “As long as God has you here, He’s faithful to fulfill the purposes He created you for—to complete the good work in us.”