Sixteen years ago, in the middle of the night, in the heart of Illinois, a miracle happened.It didn’t begin as a miracle, of course.The chain of events that would end with a miracle of biblical proportions started with me, laboring at home in the arms of my husband.
Unbeknownst to us, our healthy baby boy had a knot in his umbilical cord.That knot tightened during his delivery, cutting off his oxygen supply.
When the midwife caught him and placed him in my arms, he was stillborn.For the brief moments I held him, he didn’t cry.
He didn’t breathe.He had no pulse.Our son, James Fulton, was taken from my arms and placed on the floor.
My midwife and her assistant began CPR.My husband performed an emergency baptism, invoking the saints James was named after.
Sitting on the floor, I felt like I was falling out of control.COLTON BURPO DESCRIBES MEETING JESUS AND HEARING ANGELS SING DURING NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCEIn my head, I repeated the name of my baby’s namesake, the late Archbishop Fulton J.Sheen — a Catholic televangelist who converted over 50,000 people during his lifetime, and who boasted over 30 million weekly viewers for his Emmy-winning show, Life is Worth Living, which aired in the 1950s.In my moment of desperation, my heart and voice continuously called on Sheen to pray for me.
I had no idea how profoundly this prayer would change my life — and the lives of millions of Catholics across America, if not the world.After 20 minutes, an ambulance arrived and took James and my husband to the hospital about 20 minutes away.My husband watched in shock as our tiny son — his cold, blue body hooked up to a heart monitor — lay lifeless and pulseless while every method to restart his heart failed.
In a separate ambulance, headed to labor and delivery monitoring, I desperately prayed for the son I just wanted to love and hold.After 20 more minutes, the doctors and nurses finally stopped trying to resuscitate him and were seconds from calling the time of de...