The miracle of fresh air

One week after the CT Scan, the phone rang. It was the doctor’s office with some news that was not good for the patient. He was told, “You have emphysema.” Now it all made sense to the man.

For over a year he had been coughing up some really ugly stuff on a regular basis. He had been examined by medical providers and had been told that the problem was congestive heart failure. The medicos were relying on X-rays for this diagnosis, and a hospital staff physician had confirmed it. However, they were wrong. The problem was in the lungs according to the CT scan.

At first, the patient was not overly concerned. He felt pretty good for an 80-year-old, but then he did some research on emphysema and discovered what a pernicious, life robbing disease this is.

Through a veil of oppression and depression, the octogenarian tried to pray. He was a Christian, but fear persisted and clouded his mind. He found out that emphysema was a terminal disease and that those diagnosed with it could expect to live another one to five years of life, depending on the malady’s stage of development.

Meanwhile, he tried to deal with it himself. He made an appointment with a pulminologist (which took some doing, given the dearth of these specialists in this respiratory disease ravaged Valley).

Then, as if right on cue, the patient began to experience a shortness of breath, along with the ongoing expelling of thick mucus.

With his pulminologist appointment more than a month away, he sought assistance at an urgent care facility. There, it was determined that his oxygen level had dropped to a level that created some concern. He was given two different inhalers and sent home to await his Dec. 1 appointment with the lung specialist.

On the morning of Oct. 7, in his daily devotions, the man prayed a simple prayer. He didn’t pray for healing; he just prayed for his oxygen level. He didn’t ask for the eradication of emphysema; he just asked for sufficient oxygen to be supplied to his bloodstream.

Sometime close to noon, he tuned to a television program that he wasn’t in the habit of watching very often — the 700 Club. At that moment, a man and a woman were hosting a religious program. They took turns praying for people in the TV audience who were in need of healing. With each prayer the pair gave what they called a “word of knowledge.” They gave what amounted to a prophesy concerning the illness that was afflicting some viewer unknown to them.

At that point, the Madera man with the lung problem thought to himself: “wouldn’t it be neat if they mentioned me?” In the next instant, it happened.

The woman who was co-hosting the program said, “Someone else has an issue with being able to have a proper oxygen level — it’s not COVID-19. I don’t really know what the issue is, but that breathing is going to open up freely and clearly, and you are going to be able to — actually, you are going to have no problem with getting oxygen in the right level into your body on a regular basis.”

As the women went on to other issues, the Madera man sat incredulous at what had just happened. He had not put much stock in public prophesies such as these, but here it was. His lung condition had been addressed, not in general terms, but according to the terms of the very specific prayer the man had prayed. And it was done on a medium he was not accustomed to watching.

With that, the man turned to his oximeter (a device that measures the oxygen level in the bloodstream — anything above 95 percent is considered normal). Immediately after the “word of knowledge,” the man’s oxygen level measured 99 percent.

Since that time, his oxygen level has remained in the high nineties, and he no longer has a shortness of breath.

Additionally, on Dec. 1, the pulminologist informed him that the diagnosis of emphysema was incorrect.

Today, the man is enjoying the miracle God has given him and is thankful for every breath of fresh air that brings life giving oxygen into his body

This reporter knows whereof he writes, for he is the man to whom God communicated that miracle from an unlikely source and Who remains faithful to it.