One, Amazing Miracle

“I want to thank everyone for the well wishes, thoughts and prayers for my son and our family.  He is home and recovering well.  The outcome and prognosis could not be better.” – Brian Gottfredson

One, Amazing Miracle

We were in a large, two-tiered theater.  The seats were comfortable and I had a great view.  There was a presenter at the front of the stadium and I could see him well.  I could also see the other participants well.  And, to tell you the truth, I spent more time looking around at the other participants than I did the presenter.  Perhaps it was because I had a larger connection with them.  And, one of my strongest personal connections was sitting to my left and down one or two rows.

Brian Gottfredson caught my eye and I looked at him carefully.  There was something different about his face.  No, it wasn’t that he had shaved, or had a black eye or anything.  He simply looked different.  So, I studied him as I listened, right up to the end of the multi-hour-long presentation.  The presentation’s end was my cue to approach him, so I walked over and began to talk. 

Brian is a man with deep passion.  And, I could see that the passion had been replaced.  No.  Not replaced.  His expression somehow reflected look of total commitment, sadness, concern, hope and weight that had never been there before.

“My son had cardiac arrest.”  He seemed to almost whisper to me, as we conversed around things of suddenly declining importance.

“Your son from Alaska?” I responded in disbelief.

“Yes.”  He said, just before he recounted, perhaps, the most miraculous story I have ever heard.

His son, with a friend, was gliding out to ski the back country at one of Salt Lake’s Resorts as soon as the area opened, when he dropped to the ground in a heap.  As you can imagine, his friend, with little medical training had no idea what had happened or what to do.  Now.  Consider the chances of three people right behind them, doctors and nurses, who immediately began CPR, called for a sled and ambulance while getting and keeping blood and oxygen moving continuously through his body!  What are the odds?

“They got him to Intermountain Medical Center, diagnosed the problem and fixed it!”  Brian said.  “I’m on my way to meet with the doctors at the hospital right now.  My son is in great shape and healthy, so for him to go into cardiac arrest was the strangest thing!  Now he is asking, ‘Why me?’”

“Perhaps he would be better served by asking a different question?”  I replied.  “What can I learn from this experience?”

“Or, isn’t life fragile and can change at any moment?”  Brian said thoughtfully.

One more thing, I’ve thought about, over and over again, is how Brian’s whole world shrunk throughout this experience, and how Brian’s whole world expanded throughout this experience!

Brian, rightfully, dropped almost everything to be at his son’s side during his time of need.  He comforted his son’s wife and little boy.  He focused on his own wife.  That’s the new look of passion I could see in his face.  It was a look of total commitment, sadness, concern, hope and weight focused on his small world.

At the same time, Brian’s small world was expanded beyond his focus.  Perhaps I can demonstrate such expansion by allowing you to read the email he sent to those he works with.

“I want to thank everyone for the well wishes, thoughts and prayers for my son and our family.  He is home and recovering well.  The outcome and prognosis could not be better.”

Brian and his family are living their miracle!  They see it.  They feel it.  And, many others are doing the same!  It’s as if we’re all in a large, two-tiered theater.  The seats are comfortable and we’re all enjoying a great, miraculous view.  Brian’s son and family are at the front of the stadium and we see them for the miracle they are.  Brian’s family is seeing us, the other participants, that have expanded their world as well.  And, to tell you the truth, I think they are spending as much time looking around at us in a new, more connected way.  Perhaps it’s because we all, now, have a larger, stronger connection due to one, amazing miracle.