Encounters With the Great Physician

Few physicians admit to miracles and fewer would attribute someone's recovery to one. But once in a while, a healing occurs that reaches far beyond probability, statistics, superior care or man's great medical accomplishments; the only explanation is divine intervention.

Such is the case with Shannon Malloy.

On Jan. 25, 2007, Shannon was traveling on a Nebraska road when she was involved in a horrible automobile accident, resulting in a rare — and normally fatal — condition called internal decapitation. Her skull was separated from her spine, but her skin, spinal cord and other internal organs remained intact.

Remarkably, Shannon survived the accident and avoided paralysis. She talks and recently learned to swallow again.

Shannon's surgeon, Gary Ghiselli, has a single explanation for her condition: "It's a miracle that she was able to survive the actual accident. It's a miracle that she made the progress she's made."

Dr. Tim Cole, who treated Shannon in the emergency room at BryanLGH Medical Center West in Lincoln, said it is amazing that she survived. "That type of injury can be lethal." Unless God determines it to be so, people wouldn't survive with their skulls detached from their spines.

Nothing too small

As a medical provider, I haven't experienced what I think of as a "big" miracle, such as Shannon's, but I have witnessed countless other recoveries. The scientific skeptic in me tries to dismiss such miraculous healings, questioning the accuracy of the diagnosis or convincing myself that the treatment produced results. But I didn't have to be in practice long before I witnessed situations that excellent medical care could not explain or account for.

Once when I worked in an emergency room, a lady came in with a tip of a broken sewing machine needle in her finger. The X-ray revealed a 1- to 2-millimeter (tiny!) piece of needle near the bone. After looking at the X-ray, the attending physician said, "That'll take a miracle or surgery!"

I attempted to remove the tip of the needle but moved it in the wrong direction — closer to the bone. So I asked the woman, "Do you believe in miracles?"

"Yes," she replied enthusiastically.

"Then we need to ask God to give us one now," I said.

I held her finger in my hand, closed my eyes and silently pleaded, "Father, please!" When I opened my eyes, I saw a tiny, shiny sliver of needle percolate in a slow stream of blood.

The lady read my eyes. "He did it, didn't He?"

"Yes, I think so."

I ordered another X-ray, and sure enough God had intervened. The only care I delivered: anesthetizing her finger and saying a prayer. This was a small miracle, but I knew God was in that room and that He cared.

Divine handiwork

God performs miracles today as much as ever. Every time I get to participate in someone's healing, witness a birth or ponder the very nature of the human body, I see the evidence. We could single out any organ system to demonstrate the reality of miracles, but let me focus on the immune system, which has always fascinated me.

Before bacteria and viruses can attack our bodies, they must get past our first line of defense — our skin and mucous membranes. If the germs are successful, our immune system is keenly aware of their presence. Even before we feel their effects, a dynamic battle has been mounted.

The initial immune responders hone in on the invaders with impeccable accuracy and notify other cells in the system. The cells in the primary response die in service, but in doing so they help the body identify the foreigner so that if it invades again, it will be recognized rapidly and eradicated or severely hampered.

The multiple cells and tissues have to function accurately, simultaneously and in unity to fight. It is far too complex and sophisticated to happen without divine direction. Though this is an oversimplification of a single amazing system, our immune system protecting us multiple times every day is a miracle in progress.

These examples barely scratch the surface of God's vast intervention in creation. The proof of His activity encourages me to continue to ask for miracles, big or small.