A man who was restored to life after being clinically dead for nearly an hour during hospital treatment has been speaking about his experience at Christian meetings around the country.
A man who was restored to life after being clinically dead for nearly an hour during hospital treatment has been speaking about his experience at Christian meetings around the country. (Flickr/Creative Commons)
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A man from the Yorkshire town of Doncaster in the north of England, was restored to life after being clinically dead for nearly an hour during hospital treatment has been speaking about his experience at Christian meetings around the country.
But in an exclusive interview with this journalist, Joe Stevenson has now shared his amazing story for the purposes of newspaper coverage.
The "miracle" happened six years ago, and has been verified by the surgeon involved.
Joe was admitted to Doncaster Royal Infirmary for a total knee replacement but, at the initiation of physiotherapy the day after surgery, he suffered a massive heart attack.
For the next 55 minutes he had "no cardiac output and no respiratory effort other than what was maintained by the resuscitation team," according to Consultant Orthopedic Surgeon, Mr. A.S.W. Bruce.
When informed by the patient's son-in-law that Joe had died, his church friends began to pray—not for the Lord to raise him up but for his family to be comforted.
Then, amazingly, his heart started beating again—"spontaneous cardiac output and respiratory effort were returned," said Mr. Bruce—and he was in a coma for the next 72 hours. But there was no brain damage and, although initially suffering acute renal failure, this completely settled in time.
"Having seen him in clinic, he has made an uneventful recovery," Mr. Bruce added in a letter dated Jan. 25, 2011.
Now 75 and in continuing good health, Joe lives in Coniston Road, Askern, with his wife, Wilsie.
Dr. David Garrard, a senior lecturer at the Assemblies of God Bible College at Mattersey, Doncaster, and a fellow member at the time of the Reachout Christian Fellowship at Christ Church in central Doncaster, said: "The miracle of the resurrection power of Christ is evidenced in what happened to Joe."