AMAZING STORY
The McCoys: An Unforgettable Christmas Gift
By Christine McWhorter
The 700 Club
CBN.com
– Melissa and Roman McCoy were looking forward to the Christmas season of 2007. But on December 5th, Roman got a phone call that changed everything. Melissa had been in a terrible car accident, and the doctor had little hope she would make it.
"He said the next six to eight hours were critical in determining whether she would live or not. And I just wept," Roman tells The 700 Club. "A lot of pressure build up inside, and I just shattered my cell phone on the ground when I heard that. It was the worst feeling that I’ve ever felt."
Melissa, a college English professor, was on her way to class when she swerved off the road. Her car slammed into a mound of dirt and rolled over several times.
For Roman, the first few hours were agonizing. He recalls, "I could only think how am I going to raise my kids without their mother? If she did live, how would I take care of her and my kids? The questions you never want to ask yourself, I had to face."
Melissa survived the first night. She had injuries to her stomach and lungs and worse, she suffered severe trauma to her brain. She didn’t recognize anyone, even her own husband.
"She had this grunt or yell. That’s all she could do, like she was frustrated, like she wanted to communicate and just couldn’t get it out. Very restless. They had to tie her arms down, because she kept trying to take the tubes out. She was awake, but was not there.
"Over the next few days, she remained unresponsive to treatments. It was as if her personality was erased. On top of the brain injury, she had one complication after another: infections, blood clots, and then a stroke.
"The brain surgeon never really gave us much hope. He said, 'I don’t give hope. I give reality.'"
After about two weeks, Roman drove to the spot where Melissa’s car went off the road. He could still see the tire tracks. That’s where he found a card printed with the scripture Jeremiah 29:11.
"'For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not harm you.' And God just put on my heart right then: this is going to be okay."
But days passed and Melissa didn’t improve. Christmas Eve, Roman was by her side in the hospital, watching The 700 Club.
"As I’m watching it, they describe a woman who has been in a car wreck, and was told that she would never live off of the breathing machine. She may never walk again. She might not make it. And that’s everything I had heard from the nurses and from the brain surgeon, so that really caught my attention. At the end, they asked her, 'How in the world did you have the strength to make it through all of this?' She said, 'God put a scripture on my heart: Jeremiah 29:11.' It was the same scripture that was in the tracks of my wife’s vehicle."
Roman says he knew God was speaking to him. He prayed with host Gordon Robertson for Melissa to be healed. Then, the McCoys received a Christmas gift they would never forget.
"Later that evening, she woke up and was just as clear as a bell, recognized everybody, was able to read. It was just amazing. I saw her bright smile and her sense of humor right off the bat. It was there! The only way I could describe it is that the weight of the darkness that had hovered over me was just completely gone."
With rehab, Melissa quickly improved, and she is back to being a wife, mom, and professor. There is no sign of damage from the brain trauma.
Melissa tells The 700 Club, "I thank Him for everything now. Because of the personal nature of the relationship now, it’s not just 'thank You for my job, thank You for my children.' It’s 'thank You for every aspect of my life.' Because it’s all for Him. Every blessing is from Him. You begin to see the world in a different way when you realize His personal touch on your life. You don’t really understand dependence on God until you’re dependent for every breath. It changes everything."
Melissa and Roman know that God was with them through their difficult time.
"He does have plans for our life," Melissa says. "We’re not just adrift in some limbo. He’s not just a distant God that sits back and watches. He is deeply involved in our lives and what we do, and He does have a plan for us."
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