After having run about two miles I collapsed (I do not
remember any of this). Having fallen next to a busy street,
a man saw me from his apartment window and called for help.
I laid next to the busy street of Via Aurelia in Rome.
At the same time as this happened there were a group of
disabled pilgrims
from the Order of Malta from Germany, just arriving
in Rome with about 1000 people in 27 buses from all German
dioceses. A few hundred metres before arriving at their
hotel, Ergife, their bus leader saw a man (me) lying on the
ground in one of the small streets they passed by. The bus
stopped at once, they ran to me laying on the ground, with
my front side down to the floor, and around me a few worried
people. I took only a few breaths more – and then I stopped
breathing, according to the priest that was in that bus.
"He is dying!" said the German doctor, Dr. Christian
Hönemann, along with the German paramedic Markus Bardelman
and a German nurse, Britta. Immediately the medical
staff began to bring me back to life. Christian (the German
doctor) did artificial respiration, then the tracheal
respiration with a tracheal-tube. Markus (the German
paramedic) did the cardiac massage, because there was no
more heartbeat. At this moment I was clinically
dead. They gave me different intravenous drips. "We don't
get him back" were the exact words of those assisting me,
said the German priest at the site.
The German priest told me that they saw me dying. At that
moment the priest cried out to our Lord: my heart cried to
the Lord: "Don't let him die! Whoever this guy is: He is
yours – save his life! Let us all see your magnitude and
your man kindness, so that we all may praise your name and
annunciate your wisdom and love!"
After the doctors were about to give up, the priest told
them that maybe it seemed awkward but he insisted that they
would not stop their efforts to bring me back to life. At
that moment the German priest administered the sacrament of
anointing of the sick. Doctor Christian said: "This is the
most important thing to do now!" He really thought that I
had been lost.
Stephan
(the bus-leader) said: "I feel helpless. All we can do is to
pray. I will go back to the bus and will all people invite
to pray the rosary with me." . And all people in the bus
prayed the rosary with him. The priest took the holy oil
and performed the holy sacrament of anointing of the sick
whilst Christian and Markus continued their efforts to bring
me back.
Only a few seconds after that the monitor showed them the
first new heartbeat. They could not help but shout: "He came
back. We got him back!"
Soon after they heard the ambulance coming down the street.
They picked me up and took me to the hospital, and Christian
(the German doctor) accompanied me, and Markus followed in
the van.
I was three days in a coma. Woken up by my youngest sibling
(of eight children) kissing me on the hand. In the Italian
hospital, Filipo Neri in Rome, they diagnosed me with a rare
disease of Amyloidosis.
I am currently at my home in the state of Michigan, until
further testing can be done.
To me this is all to amazing to believe. There was
definitely divine intercession. I collapsed, there was a
cardiologist at the sight, he had all his equipment, and was
able to bring me back with no damage to the heart nor the
brain.
God Bless. In Christ, Br. Kevin Leahy
