Medical Miracles

These survivors are alive and healthy in 417-land, thanks to a combination of the latest in medical technology and a little faith. Meet people who defied the odds.

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“No way,” the doctors said. But these six survivors are alive and healthy in 417-land, thanks to a combination of the latest in medical technology and a little faith. Meet people who defied the odds and the newest equipment that will help others do so for years to come.

As tirelessly as the medical field works to explain everything that happens to the human body, some events still elude it. At its best, that can mean people living when even their doctors told them they didn’t stand a chance. Meet six examples of such people: 417-land medical miracles. >> When readers were asked to tell their stories of beating the odds, responses came pouring in. Some survived terrible accidents; others were given a virtual death sentence by cancer or HIV/AIDS. However, they all share common threads. First, each case was aided by advancements in medicine, whether for diagnosis or treatment. Without new equipment such as the LightSpeed CT scanner and the CyberKnife linear accelerator—technologies that didn’t exist even three years ago—the patients, and others like them, wouldn’t be alive. Second, each person credited something beyond medicine as the reason he or she is still here. Many of them credit the power of prayer; one says he even saw heaven. Finally, each person says he or she has been profoundly affected by the “miracle” experience, whether it means that a family was brought closer together, or a greater sense of purpose in life revealed itself. >> Some of your most dramatic miracle stories appear here, along with the names of doctors who are at least part of the reason the patient survived. Even more tales are available at 417mag.com. There are also examples of some of the most recent medical advancements saving lives in 417-land. Click on one of the stories below. Be amazed.

• Twins born weighing a combined 3 pounds 11 ounces
• The car crash survival case doctors said they had never seen before
• Two aneurisms at once? It happened
• An unlikely dancer
• The broken tooth that almost proved fatal
• Beating cancer with alternative medicine and a breakthrough procedure
• Surviving HIV and an 11th-hour liver transplant (online only)
  
• Stem-cell surgery? New DNA? Meet the boy with both (online only)