Back From Death
“Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” [Ephesians 5:14]
Michelle Funk was only left alone for a few minutes that day in June 1986. It was long enough. She fell into the icy, runoff-swollen waters of Bell Canyon Creek, which winds through southeast Salt Lake County near her parents’ home. Sixty-six minutes later, when a diver pulled Michelle from the creek approximately 150 feet from where she had fallen in, she was lifeless. Her small body was frozen by the 40 degree water. It was the icy temperature of the water, along with its cleanliness, that allowed Michelle to be saved by doctors at Primary Children’s Medical Center in Salt Lake City. She was rushed to the hospital, where a machine warmed up her blood. When her temperature reached 91 degrees F her heart started beating and she opened her eyes. Michelle entirely recovered and showed no signs of her traumatic experience.
The resuscitation of this two-and-a-half-year-old girl, submerged for more than an hour, was rare. Even the Journal of the American Medical Association described it as “miraculous.” It was not only the longest documented submersion with a positive outcome (she grew in a healthy and normal way), but it’s also the first successful use of a heart-lung bypass machine to re-warm a child whose temperature had dropped extremely low from hypothermia.
What is amazing about this story is that the doctor that saved her life, Dr. Bolte, pondered the idea of using a heart-lung machine to warm the blood of victims of hypothermia just a few months before Michelle’s accident. When she arrived at the hospital, they worked for three hours to warm her up. After coming back to life it was another two months before she was able to return home.
Though many children die from drowning, usually from backyard swimming pools that do not have protective fences, there are some fortunate cases like Michelle’s. Someday, when Jesus returns, all those who are asleep in death will be miraculously resurrected and live forever. Even the Old Testament prophets described this spectacular day. “Your dead shall live; together with my dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead” (Isaiah 26:19).
Not everyone will have another chance like Michelle to awaken from being close to death. But we all may have hope in the resurrection if we seek to follow the Lifegiver.
