Aside from my own, over the years I have heard some amazing first hand accounts of Christians who have had powerful, life-changing encounters with the Living Lord Jesus Christ. One of the most interesting ones I heard from someone I met personally was Jim Sepulvida. A friend of mine was healed by the Lord of an inoperable condition during a meeting he was speaking at...
Here is him speaking a good many years ago now.
I would love to hear anyone else's first hand testimonies or those they have heard and have meant something in their own journeys.
1st week of April 2002 I was involved in a motorcycle accident. A vehicle cut in front of me as I was crossing a freeway overpass on the way to work. When I attempted to avoid being hid by the car, I ended up sliding in some gravel near the median. That is the last thing I remembered until July 6, 2002. I was told that a few seconds later, a young lady parked her car across the part of the freeway overpass where I was laying along side my motorcycle, got out of her car, sat down next to me, held me and began praying. A few minutes later a fire department EMT returning to their station from a bogus emergency call happened to drive past, turned around and began caring for me.
My wife arrived at the hospital about a hour later and noticed I was laying on a hospital gurney in one of the curtained off emergency stalls. She said the emergency room was extremely busy at the time. She noticed they had done virtually nothing except insert an IV. When she asked why they were not doing something, why I was just laying there, they explained that there was very little chance that I would survive (they said they estimated less than a 3% chance) and they were extremely busy and was working on those they could help. She told me that she began "raising hell" and pressured a doctor to spend some time examining me etc.
Finally, they moved me to a CCU room, cut my hair and then put staples in my head/skull where it had severely cracked. For the next appx 4 weeks she said I was in a coma. In CCU they normally do not allow family to remain with the patient for extended periods of time. However, she said I was the exception. The nurses noticed that any time she left the room my heart rate would jump way up and my blood pressure would rise a great deal. When she would return to the room, touch me and say a few words, everything would go back to "normal". The doctor told the nurses that she would be allowed to remain with me 24 hours a day.
After about 4 weeks they said I came out of the coma but was in a "vegetative state". They decided to transfer me to Barrows Neurological which handled severe head trauma / injuries. Over time the doctors had determined that there was no chance of any rehab and that I would remain in a "vegetative" state and would require constant care. Somewhere around the end of June our health insurance notified Barrows that since there was no hope for rehab that they were going to discontinue paying for the care and that my family had two options. My wife could take me home, take care of me or hire someone to care for me while she went to work. Or, they could put me in the state hospital (the state facility for the mentally ill) and I would remain there as long as I lived. She said she was told they had 14 days to decide what they wanted to do.
By July 1st my legs had swelled greatly and it was determined that I had developed substantial blood clots in both legs and one in my lungs. My temperature had also increased to 105 degrees. They told my wife that the center would provide a nursing assistant and they could constantly give me ice baths to try to reduce my temperature. On July 3rd they told my wife that they were going to amputate my left leg and possibly my right leg because of the severe blot clots. They said they wanted to wait a few days before the surgery to see if my temperature went down and I appeared to be more stabilized. That day they also installed a greenfield filter to try and keep any more clots from reaching my lungs or heart.
Early the morning of July 6th, I had a blessing that I can never repay, did not deserve or could never imagine. I could spend hours explaining it but most people have some idea because of movies they have watched or books they have read. However, I was told that they had given up when all of a sudden my heart started and I started breathing. I was told that it was appx 3 hours afterward that I first opened my eyes. This was the first thing I remembered since trying to avoid the vehicle who cut me off. I had tubes all over and all kinds of wires and such. I vaguely remember seeing a big clock on a wall and wondering where I was. I glanced over to the side a noticed my wife sitting in a chair reading. I tried as best I could to ask her where we were. She jumped out of the chair, came over to me and asked "who am I"? It seemed odd that she would ask such a question but as best I could I answered "you're my wife". She then asked me "What's my name"? I answered "Penny, where are we".
I don't remember much of the rest of that day but my wife said a "parade of neurologists - doctors" came in and began to examine me and ask me a few questions. She said they all told her it was a miracle. I believe I slept until the next morning until the doctors came in and began poking and probing. They told my wife given the severity of my TBI that they could not explain how I could recognize anything or that I could talk. Over the next few days I felt like a guinea pig undergoing constant testing and answering questions as best I could. They told my wife that they couldn't understand it. They also told her they were sure I would never be able to walk or do nearly as much as I could before, that I would never be able to return to work and would probably need months of physical and mental rehab.
July 10th one of the rehab specialists was pushing me back to my room in a wheelchair. As we went through one of the physical rehab areas, I noticed the parallel bars and asked him to push me over to the end of the bars and unstrap me from the chair. He wanted to know why and I explained that I wanted to try to pull myself up. He told me that I shouldn't try to do so, that I would just get frustrated and could hurt myself. I insisted and so he did as I asked. I put my feet on the floor a pulled myself up. As hard and painful as it was, I managed to hold onto the bars and walk to the far end. I turned and rested for a bit and then using the bars walked back and sat down in the wheelchair.
He pushed me out into the hall and got the attention of one of the neurologists and told her what I had done. She asked if I thought I could repeat the effort and I agreed to try. Again, I pulled myself up and walked to the end and back again holding on to the bars. I can say it was one of the most painful things I had ever done. I normally wore a size 10 and half shoe and at this time they could not get a size 14 slipper on my feet because they and my legs were so swollen. Over the next few days they had me doing different exercises both physical and mental.
July 17th they had a party in the large meeting room at the end of the hallway and nurses and doctors came. We had cake and it was like a surprise birthday party. Afterwards, my wife and I walked out to our car and she drove us home. After seeing several neurologists over the next 4 weeks I finally found one who would release me to return to work. He said "I can't understand it but you passed all the physical tests so I guess there is no reason not to allow you to return to work". August 19th, 2002 I drove myself to work.
There is so much more and it would take another hour or two to post it. Pastors, doctors and others have suggested I write a book but I have had too many other things I wanted to do. I have traveled and continue to do so giving my testimony to many others and hope to be able to continue to do so for many years.
The physical aftereffects of the accident? I cannot taste or smell and every now and then I will become unusually tired. The TBJ... on both sides the temporal and frontal lobes were completely destroyed and appx 40-45% of both parietal lobes were heavily damaged. For years after leaving the hospital I had numerous neurologists ask to be able to examine me. I finally had to start saying "no, I am not a guinea pig, leave me alone".
Again there is so much more that I can post but I am tired and my fingers are wearing out LOL.
God Bless all and without any doubt, it has meaning when HE said/says "I am"
