A young Navy veteran in Florida who was declared brain dead woke up just days before his funeral after his family asked for ten days to pray for a miracle.
In early June a 28-year-old Navy veteran named Ethan Preseau moved to Pensacola, Florida. He wanted to build a new life with his girlfriend Piper Wade. They were moving into their new home together. Ethan went out to his truck to grab a suitcase. He never came back inside.
Piper went out to check on him. She found him lying completely unconscious. Piper told the local news about those terrifying moments.
She said, “You don’t want to see someone that you love in that state. So I just freaked out and I immediately — I don’t know CPR, but I understand what it is, so I tried to do that for a second. But I realized I don’t know what I’m doing, so I ran inside as fast as possible and I called 911 and they were there so fast. Maybe in like 30 seconds they were there.”
Paramedics rushed Ethan to the hospital. Doctors diagnosed him with a severe heart infection. He spent days relying on life support to survive.
The medical reports looked incredibly bleak. His stepmother Denice Preseau explained the grim situation. She said, “When they did the brain MRI, the MRI showed that the thalamus was black and dead. So we had absolutely no hope.”
The family actually started making plans for his funeral. They prepared to take him off life support. But Piper made one final desperate plea. She asked the doctors to give Ethan 10 more days to fight. The family spent those 10 days waiting and praying.
The tenth day finally arrived. His family gathered around and said their tearful goodbyes. Nurses took the young veteran off life support. They even performed the solemn walk of honor in the hospital hallways.
But death did not win this time. The hospital called the family shortly after with news they could hardly believe. Ethan was awake.
Denice described the joyful reunion on the family GoFundMe page. She wrote, “Miraculously, when they walked in, Ethan was awake! He followed his father across the room with his eyes, turned his head and smiled. He stuck his tongue out for the nurses three times. He raised his arm and squeezed his father’s fingers. He tried for a thumbs up. Ethan was back! The doctors say that his organs are all fine, but that he had initially suffered an infection to the heart.”
His family knows exactly who deserves the glory for this recovery. Denice shared her absolute faith when she added, “We have witnessed a miracle! God obviously has more in store for Ethan, Piper and their newly bonded family. He has come through a major medical miracle!”
She finished her update by quoting Jeremiah 32:27 which declares, “For I am Jehovah, the God of all flesh; is anything too hard for me?”
When we read this it is impossible not to think about Lazarus in the Bible. You might remember in John chapter 11 that Lazarus had been dead and buried in a tomb for four days. It was a completely hopeless situation.
In fact when Jesus told them to roll away the stone Martha warned Him that the body would already smell bad because he had been dead so long. She thought it was too late and she thought death had won. But Jesus looked right past the physical decay and the bad report and He called Lazarus out of that grave.
Ethan’s family faced their own version of that hopeless situation when they looked at an MRI showing a dead brain. Medical science said it was over but our God is not limited by a bad scan or a ticking clock.
The same voice that called Lazarus out of the tomb is the voice that woke Ethan up right before his funeral.
We can see that God always has the final word over our lives. He still works miracles today just like He did in the Bible stories we read. We can put our full trust in Him even when the world tells us to give up.
Please pray for Ethan and his family as he continues his recovery journey in a rehab facility.
WATCH: Navy Veteran Declared Brain Dead Wakes Up Before His Funeral
