Act Of God, Or Simple Science, You Decide

Medical Miracles

The word miracle, from the Latin word miraculum, basically means “something wonderful”. Many people attach a divine or mystical significance to the word miracle and yet others might describe it as a seemingly impossible or a statistically unlikely event that has a beneficial outcome. Miracles mean different things to different people but regardless of what you consider a miracle to be, the fact is, they do happen. Some events may have vague scientific explanations, whereas others do not. In all cases, they serve to remind us that we can take nothing for granted and that we should never lose sight of hope. The following list represents just a short selection of what might fall into the miraculous category, you decide.

The case of Brandon Connor ( Dr. We can't find the tumour )

In the USA, doctors identified a tumour growing on Brandon Connor’s spine whilst he was still in his mother’s womb. After his birth it was diagnosed as neuroblastoma, a particularly deadly form of childhood cancer. Over the next couple of years Brandon was monitored and the tumour persisted. When he was two years old, a neurosurgeon agreed to operate. However, the night before surgery, the tumour was found to have vanished leaving only fatty tissue in its place. Some doctors maintain that the tumour may have committed “cellular suicide” but no one knows for sure.

Saved by the cards (Coincidence or evidence of something more powerful)

In the UK, no one would have believed that 9 year old Craig Shergold would survive his diagnosis of terminal brain cancer. His family started an ambitious campaign for Craig to receive enough get well cards to earn him a place in the Guinness Book of Records. In came the cards, not in their hundreds or thousands, but in their millions, and Craig easily secured his place in the famous book. However, Craig’s plight also caught the attention of one wealthy American who arranged for Craig to have surgery in the USA. Craig’s cancer then went into remission and he made a full recovery.

Surviving rabies (Only six people worldwide have survived, go by a lotto ticket girl)

Little did young fifteen year old Jeanna Giese know when she picked up a bat in a church and was bitten on the finger, that she would be the first person ever to contract rabies and survive without a vaccine. A month after she was bitten she developed symptoms of rabies and the diagnosis was confirmed in lab tests. Her condition continued to deteriorate and doctors took drastic action. They put the young girl into a coma for a week and waited for her immune system to fight back. It did and she survived. The same technique has been repeated on other rabies victims since but has always failed.

Cured of HIV? (Lets celebrate! Err no , I think I will sue you?)

A young Scotsman by the name of Andrew Stimpson remains the only documented case of someone having been diagnosed as HIV positive and then curing himself. Such was his shock when further tests a year later showed the virus had gone and his immune system had stopped making antibodies, he tried to sue the health authorities, but no negligence was found, their tests proved accurate. DoesAndrew hold the secret to an eventual Aids cure? No one knows.

Lightning does strike twice, maybe even seven times ( Zapped and zapped again LOL)

It is rare indeed to be struck by lightning at all, some people are unlucky enough to have been struck twice, but Roy Sullivan, an ex park ranger in Virginia, is the only person known to have been struck
by lightning no less than seven times over the course of 37 years and has lived to tell the tale. He has lost toenails, had his hair set alight twice, his eyebrows burned off, and received numerous burns to his body. Is he lucky or incredibly unlucky? It’s difficult to say.

Was it a miracle? (Incredible vanishing cancers)

Last year in 2006, young Tyler Powell discovered she had Leukaemia. There was more bad news. The type of Leukaemia was particularly serious. Chemotherapy treatment then failed and the only option left appeared to be a bone marrow transplant. An exact match wasn’t found but Tyler’s mother was a close match so they decided to go ahead. However, pre-operation tests revealed that the leukaemia had miraculously gone. Tyler now looks forward to a fulland happy life. Was it a miracle? At the moment there is no other explanation.

John of God (Simple fraud or does this man hold exceptional powers)

Joao de Deus, otherwise known as John of God, is a humble man in Brazil with very little education who performs hundreds of medical “miracles” on a daily basis. He is now perhaps the world’s most renowned spiritual healer and psychic surgeon and carries out both physical surgery using medical tools
without an anaesthetic, and psychic treatments, all under the instruction of what he calls “entities”. No one feels any pain. He sees everyone who seeks his help; absolutely no one is turned away. What makes John different is that he openly welcomes the media to witness his work in attempt to counteract
the many attempts to portray him as a fraud. Is he a fraud? His countless successes would indicate otherwise