John and Joyce Smith – People Magazine
On January 19, 2015, then-14-year-old John and two of his friends were messing around on frozen Lake St. Louise when the ice broke open beneath their feet and they plummeted down into the brutally cold water. One boy was able to climb his way out, and another was quickly rescued. John, however, became trapped and sank down to the lake’s floor.After 15 minutes underwater, the teenager was finally pulled to the surface by first responders and taken to the nearby St. Joseph Hospital West. His body was cold and lifeless, and doctors tried to administer CPR for 43 minutes with no success. Emergency room doctor Kent Sutterer was preparing to deliver the tragic news to John’s mother, Joyce, when she entered her son’s hospital room and quickly said a desperate prayer: “Holy Spirit, please come and give me back my son!” she prayed aloud, according to People.
As the story goes, that was the moment that everything changed: Immediately after Joyce uttered those words, her son’s heart began beating once again. And he just kept continuing to defy the odds from there — although his doctors had told Joyce and Brian that he would likely never regain neurological function, John was awake and answering questions within 48 hours of his rescue.
“The very moment that I needed God, he was there instantly.”
What life is like for John and Joyce today
In an unprecedented turn of events, John not only recovered fully from his brush with death, but he also did so with remarkable speed: Just three weeks after his lifeless body had been admitted to the hospital, John walked out the front door on his own two feet. He had to attend outpatient therapy for several weeks following his release, but it was a recovery that doctors had never seen the likes of before.
READ NOWMedical experts have since theorized that the extremely cold temperature of the water that day was what redistributed John’s blood flow and kept his organs functioning, but the Smith family believes there was also something else at play: a true, God-given miracle. It’s what Joyce wrote about in her book about the incident, The Impossible, and what new movie “Breakthrough” is all about.
“I have always believed that God’s going to do what he says he does because I’ve seen it all my life,” Joyce told People earlier this month. “But this is like the Oscars of faith. The very moment that I needed God, he was there instantly. And when John’s heartbeat started right up it was like, ‘Thank you, Lord, for being so merciful for me,’ which just set my faith forever in bedrock.”
John has appeared at events for the movie’s release alongside his mother, Joyce, and the actors that portray them in the film.
You can find “Breakthrough” streaming on Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, Direct TV, YouTube and others.