When Doctors Gave Up, Prayer Stepped In

“I could see that there was somebody laying in the bottom of the ditch and I assumed that he was probably dead from the looks of it,” says farmer Jim Baumberger.

In the early hours of March 4th, 2018, 21-year-old Nathan Hedberg, a baseball player at South Dakota State, was driving home when he lost control of his truck on the icy roads. Police determined his truck rolled twice before ejecting Nate headfirst through the windshield. After, Nate spent approximately five hours lying in the ditch. A farmer, Jim Bamberger found him and called 911.

Jim says, “She said check to see if he’s breathing and I could hear kind of a gurgling noise and I said, ‘Well I think he’s breathing.’”

Nate had suffered frost bite, a fractured spine, and swelling of his brain. First responders didn’t believe he would survive the 20-minute life-flight to the nearest hospital. Medical staff contacted Nate’s parents.

“I was awakened by my cell phone ringing and it was the emergency room”, says Lorie Hedberg.  “Before I even got up out of bed I went to God in prayer, telling God, ‘You do what you choose to do and I will accept whatever you choose.’”

Terry Hedberg says, “I broke down on my knees and I wailed like I’ve never wailed in my life.”

Terry and Lorie flew from their home in California to the hospital in South Dakota. Lorie, a nurse of thirty years, told the surgeon to be honest about Nate’s chances.

Lorie recalls, “He said he's so unstable, if we did surgery to release the pressure on his brain, he goes ‘I'll kill him during in surgery.’ He's like ‘There's nothing I can do for your son.’ And he told us at that time that he wasn't convinced that Nate would make it through the night.”

“And I just said, ‘God I can’t control it. I don’t know what to do. Would you please heal my son?’” says Terry.

Lorie says, “I put my hand over this surgeon as he's giving us this hopeless scenario, and I said, ‘But you're forgetting one thing’ and he's like ‘What?’ And I said, ‘There's a God factor.’"

Despite the prognosis, as word got out, the Hedberg’s were inspired by the prayers of people from their hometown and all over the world.

“The news of Nathan’s accident had gone viral and we had so many people praying for him and that was very amazing to me”, says Lorie.

While Nate was still in a coma, his older brother Justin sang Christian songs to him and Nate’s response was encouraging.

Justin says, “A couple of nurses walk into the room and they noticed on the charts of his cranial pressures and his brain was actually decreasing.”

Lorie says, “And he would sing to Nathan and the pressure monitors would come down to a much more acceptable level. It was precious!”

After a few weeks, Lorie believed God wanted her to convince the doctor to take Nate off of the ventilator. The surgeon reluctantly agreed.

“I truly believed God would raise my son,” says Lorie. “But the doctor didn't think he had the mental capacity to breathe on his own. And when we extubated him, it's pretty traumatic, and Nathan had the best cough, he literally rose off the bed coughing. Nate actually became alert and he said, ‘I love you.’”

Terry says, “We were all believing for Jesus to heal him and that was like a miracle right then itself because I know the doctors didn’t expect him to go beyond a machine.”

After several more weeks, Nate awoke from his coma.

Justin says, “I immediately was shocked. I was just like overwhelmed with joy to see him moving, to see him speaking. Even if it wasn't coherent sentences like it was – it made sense. Like life was coming back to him.”

After months of rehab Nate made a full recovery and returned to his hometown.

“Everybody from that small town just came running to see the kid that was dead and is now alive. It was amazing,” says Lorie.

Nate says, “When I went back, when I was walking around town a lot of people just ran up to me and hugged me and was just crying and just thankful that their prayers were answered, and I was just thankful.”

After all they’ve been through, the Hedberg’s can’t help but praise God: for Nate’s survival, healing, and the prayers that were answered along the way.

“This miracle doesn’t happen to everyone,” says Nate. “And I know that God has saved me for something and I want to live up to what he has for me.”

Lorie says, “He was showing us even in hindsight that he was in control and that he was hearing the fervent prayer of those who are walking with them.”

“Every day I thank God for bringing our son back to life. I rejoice every day,” says Terry.

Lorie says, “God is absolutely in control. We can trust him with everything. We can trust him with our heart. All he wants us to do is submit. Submit and trust him that he is a loving Father.”