TALES FROM THE DONUT SHOP BY JULES A.
STAATS
Copyright 2014, Jules A. Staats; Library of Congress,
USA. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. This work may be
previewed only.
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TO DEATH AND BACK
Medically impossible!
This is the true story of Creator God restoring a severely
injured, brain dead man from death to life. Jay is now retired at 85
and has worked for three Sheriff’s Departments.
(Please note, to go to the heart of this true account,
scroll to the large *)
It
was summer of 1971. Jay was enjoying the first day of three, away from
work. He had taken an extra day from his four on and two off duty
sheriff’s patrol shifts in anticipation of cruising up and down the Colorado
River with his newly acquired ski boat. He had his wife and three of
his four children with him. The youngest was too small for a boat
ride and the usual expected 100+-degree temperature of the Parker Arizona river
area.
He
reflected that this was going to be a fun day. The long hot and
boring drive across the California desert was almost behind him. While
passing one more of many Joshua trees, he glanced at the road sign for the tiny
town of Searchlight California ahead. It would not be long
now. He was almost there.
Shortly
thereafter, he pulled into the private campground on the California side of the
Colorado River. This RV facility was a preferred vacation spot for
many Deputy Sheriffs and Highway Patrol law enforcement
officers. That fact that most of the clientele were cops seemed to
minimize problems at the camp. Most of the persons who wanted to get
drunk and cause problems stayed far away from all these off-duty cops.
After
checking in, Jay wasted no time in launching his boat. It was previously owned, but a great buy. He had
found it at a boat dealer in the city of West Covina at a repo
area. An employee at the boat store stated that the previous owner
had bought the boat brand new, got drunk and stalled the outboard
motor. In a drunken and impaired rage, he then ripped off most of
the wires at the back of the dashboard. He then later towed the boat
back to the store and advised the store to keep the boat and he would no longer
pay the payments.
The
Engine Hour Meter on the dash showed only 24 hours total of run
time. The actual run time of the motor could be even less as the
meter starts working with the ignition switch. If the boat outboard
motor was not running or stalled, the meter would still count the time.
Jay
was aware of that important fact and after looking at the propeller, he determined
that this boat had hardly been used. The
outboard propeller blade had all the original paint still on it.
“How
much?” he had asked the sales person. He replied; “How about $600.00?” Jay resisted
jumping up and down at the fantastic price. Instead, he calmly told
the salesperson that it was a done deal and that he would write a check for the
full purchase price. [1]
It
was two weeks later when he finally got the extra day off and he could head for
the Colorado River for some R&R. After a long drive, he was
finally at the campground, all the waiting was behind him and now the fun could
begin.
Jay’s
wife had borrowed a rather large tent from a friend. She insisted
that the tent go up first before going anywhere in the boat. It was
probably 10 AM and the temperature was close to 90 degrees. It
seemed to make sense to get that job done first before the real hot
temperatures hit the area.
An
hour later, a profusely sweating Jay had completed the task. He
pulled a soda from the ice chest and gulped it down. It was time to
climb in the boat and take off up the river.
The
motor had an electric starter, and came to life instantly. He had
run the motor previously after the boat shop made the extensive and necessary
repairs to the wiring. (There is an adapter that attaches to a
garden hose, allowing operation of the motor while out of the water.)
He
pulled to the small dock and helped his wife and three children get in the
boat. His son took the left seat in front while his wife and two
daughters took the rear seats. On an outboard, the steering wheel is
on the right side and the power lever is on the right side. Jay
pushed the lever forward, and the boat immediately and positively
responded. After checking for traffic, he applied full
power. His now 35 MPH speed caused the cooler river air to flow by
everybody. The experience was much more comfortable as he headed up
river. He was previously advised by the
dealer to back off power a bit for a longer run, and did so. He
slowed down to 30 MPH indicated on the dashboard speedometer.
He
continued to the base of the Davis Dam that holds back water
for the Havasu Lake in Arizona. He allowed a pause and slow
drift down the river with a little small talk with the family about the boat
ride so far. He applied power again and
headed back down river.
About half way
between the Davis Dam and Jay is starting point there is a large bend in the
Colorado River called Big Bend. For those who go camping, this is in
front of Buckskin Mountain Arizona State Park.
Jay observed
many boats parked on the sandy shore. It seemed a good idea to
throttle down to a slow speed and just take in the sights.
He
had just reflected to himself that the jagged mountains were beautiful to look
at, and then glanced down at the water for an instant to observe the
currents. The bend in the river made the water swirl in
circles. The unusual movement of the water captivated him for just a
moment.
He
then heard the sound of an un-muffled V8 boat engine under full power in front
of him and just to his left. He saw a person standing up in the boat
at the steering wheel, looking backward as the boat surged toward
him. His first reaction was to apply full power and get away from
the danger of collision.
However,
he felt as if two hands were firmly holding his arms. He could not
move! He could not overpower whatever was holding
him. No, he had not frozen in fear, but felt physically
restrained. His observation of the other boat just before impact was
an image never to be forgotten.
Everything
went black. *
Jay
awoke upon hearing twin engines of a Piper Aztec airplane. He was
laying on his stomach, face to the side. His left cheek was stuck to
a pool of blood. He rose up from a stretcher like device noting that
his feet were toward the tail of the plane, then tried to look at the control
panel but his vision was blurred. Yes, it was certainly a
Piper Aztec Model 23-250 with two 250 horsepower engines. He knew
this since he was a qualified and licensed Commercial Pilot and rated for this
very type of aircraft. The propellers were not
fully synchronized and were making a “Drum-drum-drum”
sound. The sound actually irritated him.
Then
the past came back to him and he remembered what had occurred
before. He knew there was a collision but he was not aware as to what
happened and most importantly, what happened to his family due to this severe
crash?
He
found that he was lying on his stomach, there was no pain, he could taste blood
in his mouth and his vision was becoming even more blurred. He
felt his upper and lower teeth collapse in his mouth as he attempted to
speak. “How is my family?” he attempted to say. The noise
in the cockpit and his serious condition of his destroyed mouth made the
request impossible for the flight crew to hear. There was no reply
from the pilot or the co-pilot. With no response from the pilot and
co-pilot, Jay felt that his family was gone and that they all had died in the
crash of his boat. His feeling of remorse, along with the shock from
his traumatic injuries caused him to completely shut
down and that was the last thing he knew.
Jay
had been transported by ambulance to a small medical
center in Parker Arizona. His condition included massive head and
face trauma when he smashed into the dashboard of the boat during the
impact. The facility just could not handle this major trauma, and
subsequently had another ambulance transport him on a long trip to a Blythe
medical center Hospital in California.
His
jaw had been nearly torn off; bone fragments and teeth
clung to the muscles and jaw tissue. There was no one that could
repair this terrible damage to Jay’s face. Doctors there could only
attempt to further stabilize him and have an Air Ambulance transport him to a
Trauma Center in Fontana California, which was close to the Ontario Airport.
His
wife arrived in the family car, hours later at the Fontana
hospital. The doctors and staff had tried to stabilize him and had
completed a diagnosis on his condition. It was not
good. Jay’s wife was informed that his
condition included severe cerebral edema or swelling of the brain due to the
extreme impact shock of the head injury. There were multiple skull
fractures, as seen on the
x-rays.
He was now on life support. His shattered and mangled
jaw was untouched, and the numerous lacerations on his face had
not been sewed up. The reason—per the doctors--was that that
they had carefully performed an EEG or Electroencephalography scan to
determine his brain activity. There was no
activity, his brain was flat line. Dead.
Jay
was pronounced by the doctors to be brain
dead. A severe impact to the skull can cause bruising damage to the
brain. The severely injured brain swells up from major trauma but
has nowhere to go and is trapped inside the
skull. Today, doctors can operate and open the skull to allow the
swelling. Otherwise the brain compresses
upon itself. The brain cells die. When that happens the
patient always dies. [2]
After
a very long day and night with this final arrival at the California hospital,
his wife was way passed being stressed out. Upon
hearing the doctor’s prognosis that he was brain dead, she went numb. After
listening to the advice of the Attending Physician, she finally authorized the
hospital staff to terminate all life support, feeding and
treatment. A necessary oropharyngeal airway was
left inserted at this time.
Jay
was removed from life support. However even
without life support, he somehow continued to breathe through the airway, as
the brain stem was still alive. His shattered nose and tissues would
not allow air to pass without the airway. The doctor promised his
wife that she would be notified when he finally passed
away.
A
very exhausted woman, she gathered her two daughters, aged four and
five. To cope with this disaster to her family, she told the two
children they were leaving and to go to the car. When the elder
child asked for her Dad’s condition they were both told; “Your dad is
dead. We have to go home now.”
It
was 4:40 in the morning. It was still dark but the sun would be
coming up soon. A morning advection fog had descended on the parking
lot as the temperature dropped below the dew point. As the mother
walked quickly to her car, wanting to finally get this
nightmare over with, she inadvertently left her two daughters
behind. They began to hug each other in the parking lot as they
cried for the loss of their father. They could not see their mother
or find the car as their sight was completely blurred
with tears of grief.
Out
of the fog, a woman appeared. She asked in a soft voice. “Why
are you crying children?” The elder daughter replied, “My
dad is dead, we will never see him again”
The
answer burned into the memories of both daughters, shocking, vivid, never to be
forgotten; “Your dad is not dead; he is with us for a while and we are
with Him. He will be coming back to you soon, and he will be just
fine.”
The
two girls looked into each other’s teary eyes wondering in their young minds if
this was true. The girls now regained their hope to be with their
father again. Simultaneously they now had questions to ask of the
woman that had appeared out of the fog.
They
both looked back where she was standing, but the woman had
disappeared. Even when older, years later, both daughters could not
remember the age of this woman. She appeared
ageless. However, they never forgot the person that appeared out of
the mist. They also did remember that this woman stated that her
name was Helen, which was the name of their great grandmother.
A
few hundred feet away from this encounter, the body of Jay was
transported to a gurney. He was placed
in a room pending his wife’s decision to use his organs for future transplants
if he continued to live for a while. All wounds were
still left untreated, as there was no reason to sew up a dead man’s
lacerations and shattered jaw. He continued to breathe and a doctor
decided to add an intravenous bag of D5W, a mixture of dextrose sugar and
water. Four days passed. He still lay in this room, as
the donor issue had not been settled yet.
It
was medically impossible but Jay then regained consciousness. At this time, the
hospital staff had accepted his presence as a dead body that was still
breathing. Coming out of a coma with such serious head and brain
trauma was sort of a pleasant surprise but tempered by the realization that the
severe injury to his brain would only result in a living person who was a
conscious but non-sentient vegetable.
This
theory was borne out when the staff doctors tried to speak to
him. As expected his perception—which he never forgot--was that he
was in an area that he could not see very well. When the hospital
staff and even his family eventually spoke to him, he did not reply or even
respond as if he could not understand their words.
Jay
vividly recalls to this day that he was like a newborn child at this time after
waking up. He only heard sounds and had no concept of his being
other than things that moved around him were making sounds. It was
as if he had never experienced another human being in his presence
before. Was this was a severe case of total amnesia if not
dementia? It was not merely forgetting past things; his mind could
not process or understand anything including the spoken word or recognize
family members.
Reflecting
on this condition after many years, the author’s understanding is that at this
moment in time God had rebuilt what was a dead mass of fatty brain
tissue. However, at this moment in time it was analogous to a
technician who had just replaced a failed hard disk drive in a
computer. A new hard drive from the store contains absolutely no
data, much like the brain of a newborn baby. The hard drive needs to
be fed information or data so that it can again
function as a useful computer. Jay’s brain had
been rebuilt or healed, but there were no memories, personality or even
muscle experience.
The
doctors could not believe that such a brain damaged—brain dead person--could
ever come back to life. However, the obvious and final conclusion of
the doctors based on their education and experience was that he would continue
to be in a totally vegetated state for the rest of his
natural life due to this severe irreversible brain damage. No
question, there were many problems ahead for this injured young
man. A severely brain damaged person would require a lot of future
care and assistance. It was definitely a bleak life experience ahead
for a person who once was a Law Enforcement Officer.
He
was now laying in his hospital bed, having been moved
into intensive care. As he was now awake and conscious, the
lacerations were finally closed and sewed up by the hospital
physicians. The open wounds needed to be
trimmed first, due to the several day delay in stitching the open
lacerations shut.
A
former Korean War Combat Surgeon was summoned to try
to restore the broken jaw. It was crushed
in numerous places and some of the jawbone was in several small
pieces. It was a gruesome sight for the doctor to see, but he had
seen this severe damage to soldiers who had been badly
wounded on the Korea battlefield. Using pins, stainless steel
wire and his field experience, the doctor constructed the remains of Jay’s
lower jaw. The left joint of his jaw no longer existed and would be supported only with muscle
tissue. After that, the lower jaw was wired
against his fractured upper jaw or mandible. The still attached
teeth and jaw were put together like a jigsaw
puzzle. The repair process took hours but the reconstruction was
impressive and would probably function well for a lifetime albeit with constant
discomfort while eating.
The
left cheekbone was crushed and pushed inward. It
had to be popped out. This required another
surgery to pry out the cheekbone. This surgical procedure was also
successful.
Another
week passed. Jay lay on his bed on his back. It was not
possible to lie on either side of his broken face without causing intense
pain. He found himself looking at the ceiling for hours, unable to even ponder this existence. He did not have
any idea who he was, and only knew that his entire world was this
room. His condition was called by some as to be similar to the
advanced onset of Alzheimer’s disease and Jay never forgot those moments of
existence with absolutely no past, memory or dreams of the future.
It
was 2:00 Am the next night. Jay had a vivid, and in full color,
dream. It was like a high definition movie with clear and exact
details. Today we would equate this with a computer
download. He again re-lived the boat collision just before the
impact, up to the actual crash. The experience of the memory restore
event caused a profound reaction and Jay almost jumped out of the hospital
bed—fortunately, the bed railings restrained him. The realization
was as if his brain was being formatted and reloaded with
data as the details of his entire life flowed like a flood of information. All
this happened in what seemed to be an instant. His memory rushed
back, and he knew who he was! He had once again returned to life and
was once again--a sentient human being. He observed his surroundings
and immediately was aware that he was in a hospital bed.
He felt that
help had to be summoned at once but there was no
device to notify the hospital staff. Feeling around with his hands
to augment his still foggy vision, Jay had determined that he had to find the
wire that connected to the Call Button. He pulled at the thick white
wire, found the button and pressed it, causing a response by a now absolutely amazed hospital staff. Even his family
was shocked when they found out that he had come back from being a mental
vegetable and was actually talking albeit through a wired shut jaw.
This
was the second phase of the miraculous restoration of a brain dead
person. This was the insertion of memory,
reflexes, gifts, and even the identical personality to a brain that previously
was just a mass of supernaturally restored tissue. True, Jay
wished that the Lord had fixed at least part of his personality, but His Will
was that Jay was to return to the world and continue to live with full choices
of his destiny.
His
family showed up later that morning and advised him that his son had been admitted to this hospital with a cracked lower jaw
but was going to be ok and had been released to go home.
A
few days later Jay had asked to be helped from his bed
so, he could use the bathroom by himself. He could not believe what
he saw in the bathroom mirror. His face was worse than the most
beaten-up prizefighter he had ever observed in his life. His face was destroyed, discolored, stiches everywhere, eyes blood
red and a massive bruise around each eye. (It took years for the
black eyes to go away.)
He
still had another two weeks of confinement in the hospital. During
this time, he learned to anticipate the terrible pain of the numerous
anti-biotic shots in his side and backside. Modern I.V. insertion
was to come later. Scheduled pain medication was
also applied to these very sore areas as computer-dispensed pain meds
were in the future and every application of pain medication was a needle
stick. Meals were only in liquid form and were awful, as he only had
a small gap in his teeth, which were wired,
closed. Through this gap, he could slowly suck the various
liquids. The stainless steel wires that clamped his teeth tightly
together would be there for a while.
After
what seemed forever, he was finally released from the
hospital. His vision was getting a little better but he still could
not read print on forms or books. The long stay in the hospital now
felt more like a prison as he longed to return to his familiar home.
The
drive home was about ten miles. Jay observed the landmarks, and
realized that he still knew the way home. He felt the sharp pain in
his face and jaw, knowing that he needed more pain medicine soon. At
last, he was on his street, he was
finally home.
He
watched the garage door of his home power itself open as they
arrived. The open door now revealed what was inside. He
observed that the remains of his nearly new 16-foot boat and trailer were parked in the garage. A kind and helpful
person had towed it home right after the accident. He walked past
his boat without a second glance and crawled back in his own
bed. After taking his pain medication, he finally got a full night’s
sleep without the constant hospital wake-ups and painful shots. The
mending at home would take several months. His condition improved
and the wires in his jaw were finally cut but very painfully
removed. His jaw refused to open after removal of the wires
and physical therapy was necessary to restore his ability to eat solid food
again.
One
day that kind man and his wife who were nice enough to tow the boat to the
house came by to see him. Jay neglected to ask them for their
names. They related that they were on the Arizona side of the river
on the shore of the State campgrounds and had seen the accident. The
man related to him that he saw the two boats crash, as the other one had
accelerated without the driver even looking. He stated that many
persons were extremely upset about the young man that caused the
accident. The Arizona Authorities had responded and determined that
the offending boat driver had a blood alcohol content of .22. This
young man also admitted to taking drugs when barbiturates were
found on him. Jay never looked into this criminal case but
that is another story.
The
man related how he had seen the collision and that when the crash occurred, the
bow of the other boat tore through the front of Jay’s idling
craft. What was almost 20 gallons of high-octane gasoline then
sprayed into the air from the front mounted gas tank, looking like a large
cloud or fog. He expressed he thanked heaven it did not catch
fire or worse—explode.
After
the visit, Jay felt up to looking at his totally damaged boat. He
was now strong enough to climb into the boat without any assistance.
His
inspection with a flashlight behind the dashboard was both revealing and
startling. Apparently, one of the main wires, which Jay identified
as a #10 gauge, which is very heavy, was obviously burnt
on both severed ends. The mechanic who repaired this circuit did not
install a fuse or breaker for this main wire from the battery. In
fact, the fuse holders had no wires attached to it at all. When the
other bow tore through and split the dashboard of his boat, sparks had to fly
in a cloud of gasoline.
Somehow
and against the laws of physics, the boat did not catch fire. Jay
also vividly remembered how he had felt very strong hands holding him back just
before the crash. There was no way that this entire incident could ever be explained in usual terms. His
survival was next to impossible. That he did not only live through
the entire crash and trauma, but eventually completely recovered, was even more
impossible, unless you believe in God’s miracles.
Over
the years since that terrible injury, Jay has never had a seizure or suffered
any significant problems after his miraculous recovery. No, he did
not “see” any light at the end of a tunnel, nor are there any fragments of out
of body memory as to what happened while he was lying in the hospital diagnosed
by doctors as brain dead. However, to the present day, he knows that
he experienced something during that time. He was apparently re-programmed not to remember any of what he
may have seen and experienced while his brain ceased to function and he was on
the Other Side. Moreover, yes, all the vivid details of the actual
boat crash and even his impressions when he was a vegetable and could not even
understand the spoken word; remain vivid in his mind to the present day.
(In
later years, he was allowed to remember a glance into
his moments while in the Presence of his Creator) There is an image
in his mind where he stared at the base of a cross. The blood
running down the front of the cross was from his Savior, Christ
Jesus. He only remembers the base of this cross, as he was not allowed to see this actual cross with his Lord
above. He was not to see Jesus until his time on this earth was
finished. Yes, Jesus died and was resurrected
two thousand years ago. Of course, there is no actual human version
of time in Heaven. Jesus was and is real, He is Lord, and this was
absolutely proof of God’s Gift of Salvation. (Because we have free will,
Salvation in Heaven with your Creator Forever is completely
optional)
As
his life unfolded over the years, Jay began to notice the active advice,
protection, blessings and intervention that God does for people that
acknowledge that He is their Creator and Jesus is his Son. It took
an actual miracle to get his attention and finally realize this. He
still cannot open his mouth fully and occasionally receives a reminder of his
past trauma in the form of an Ocular Migraine or shimmering diamonds of
light. There is no Migraine discomfort or headache with this
reminder. The repair of the entire brain mass, the downloading of
the memory and even his old personality will always be a mystery and a real
miracle.
Jay
returned to patrol duty as a Sheriff’s Deputy several months later after the
accident and continued to work in a patrol car on the streets and as a watch
deputy in the sheriff’s station, until he retired 9 years
later. Many significant incidents occurred in his presence that he
handled through God’s Hand proved that his time on earth was not
over. However his understanding and subsequent walk with his Creator
and His Son have improved greatly as he then realized full well—and never to
forget--that he had actually gone to death and back.
These verses
written below now have meaning to Jay up to the present day, because he
has “been there:”
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Psalm
23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; also read John 11:35
Need even more
proof of the existence of God and Christ Jesus?
[1] Back in 1966 a brand new sixteen foot boat with an outboard motor could be bought for
less than $2,000.00. That cost has risen by a factor of ten plus at
the present day.
[2] A minor case of cerebral edema caused by a
concussion can cause a coma and subsequent recovery but brain damage is always
a possibility with permanent impairment. Extreme brain trauma
is usually a fatal event. Pronouncing a
person brain dead after using an EEG is final.