Doctor Says Mother's Prayer Restarted Dead Boy's Heart

When rescuers arrived to Missouri's Lake Sainte Louise on Jan. 19 after reports that three 14-year-old boys had fallen through the ice, John Smith had already been underwater for 15 minutes.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports he was taken to a hospital with no pulse, and while his companions were treated for hypothermia, staff performed CPR on John for 27 minutes.

"He was dead for 45 minutes," Dr. Kent Sutterer told KSDK. There was a "very poor chance of survival." But when the doctor called John's mom into the room, "she started praying loudly," he says.

Adds Joyce Smith, "I don't remember what all I said. But I remember, 'Holy God, please send your Holy Spirit to save my son.' ... All of a sudden I heard them saying, 'We got a pulse, we got a pulse...'"

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