Robert was pronounced dead at 17-months-old after falling from a three-story window. On the way to the morgue, his grandmother insisted that he was alive. She saw his toes moving. Though baby Robert miraculously survived, on Christmas Day, 1948, doctors told his parents to take him home to die. But Robert did not die. He's still alive today, and testifies of God's answered prayers in his life.
A Christmas Miracle - And Many More Answered Prayers
On the eighth day of December 1948, I was just a baby boy of 17 months.
I fell from a three-story window, and landed on the sidewalk. I was then carried to the hospital where I was pronounced dead.
My grandmother had arrived by the time they were carrying me to the morgue. She told the orderly to unwrap me because I wasn't dead. She said she saw a light shining over my head and saw my toes moving. Indeed I was alive and they rushed me back upstairs.
He Will Not Live to See Christmas
I was very sick and needed brain surgery, but they couldn't do anything to treat me yet because of my fever. On the thirteenth day of December, 1948, they performed the surgery on my head. The doctors, Dr. Duffy Sr., Dr. Duffy Jr., and Dr. Willis did the surgery. They all told my parents, "He will not live to see Christmas."
On December 25, Dr. Willis came out of the delivery room crying. He told my dad that he just delivered a perfectly healthy little boy that died in his arms for no reason. He also told Daddy to take me on home, for I would not live long and I deserved to go home.
Prayers Were Answered
The newspaper picked up the story and all of New Bern began to pray for me. My parents and grandparents prayed for me too, and the prayers were answered. I survived. The doctors still did not believe that I would live to be a teenager, but I outlived the doctors. There is only one nurse who had nursed me back to health still alive today. Every time she sees me she breaks down and cries.
At age 18 I wanted to go in the Army. My doctor told me, “There’s no way you'll be able to.” He explained that any chance blow to my head could cripple or kill me. I prayed that the doctor would release me and the Army would take me. This happened. I served my country for three years including one year in Vietnam. People all over prayed for me and I was protected.
More Answered Prayers
I prayed for a wonderful girl to be my wife and my prayers were answered again. I thank God for her every day. For a year we tried to have a baby, but couldn't. I felt like a failure. We continued to pray and after our seventh anniversary we had a son. My son and my wife almost died the night he was born. People prayed. Sidney survived with no complications.
The doctor told me that it would be impossible for us to have any more children safely. We prayed. Two years and one week later, Rachel was born. Our prayers were answered. Still today I thank God for two wonderful children.
A Second Chance
At age 52 I had a heart attack. A doctor performed open-heart surgery on me to bypass four arteries. While under anesthesia, I saw a light at the end of the hallway. I got up and walked to it. There was a door there and I opened it and walked in. It was an operating room. In there I could see my daddy and my mother. (They are both dead now.) They were standing around the table and there was a bright light. There were angels around the room too. I looked on the table and there was a little baby on it.
The baby was me. I looked up at my daddy. He looked right at me and said, “It’s not your turn, then or now. So, go back.”