As a parent, you hope that you’ll be able to shield your kids from as much pain and suffering as possible. We consider it to be our jobs to act as a buffer between the really bad stuff, and the kids that we would give our lives for.
Unfortunately, we can’t shield them from everything. We can’t bubble wrap them, and we can’t keep all the pain in the world away. No matter how hard we try, the icy finger of death sometimes reaches for our loved ones, and all we can do is pray for a miracle.
The parents of Brian Boyle, a teenager with his entire life ahead of him found themselves in that heartbreaking position after their son was slammed into by a truck and was in the hospital fighting for his life Little Things tells the miraculous story of his death, and what brought him back to life again:
“Brian Boyle was an athletic and handsome teenager, gearing up for college. But on July 6, 2004, everything changed in an instant.
At 18 years old, Brian was on his way home from swim practice in Maryland when a speeding truck slammed into his car.
The horrific accident happened just weeks after Brian’s high school graduation. His heart was ripped across his chest. His organs were damaged. His ribs had shattered. His clavicle was broken, and he lost 60% of his blood.
Brian was in a coma for two months at the hospital — during which he died eight times.
He underwent 14 major operations, 36 blood transfusions, and 13 plasma treatments. Still, doctors prepared the Boyle family for the worst. Even if he did survive, they didn’t think he’d ever walk again.
Brian’s parents, Garth and JoAnne, were tormented by the sight of their son’s suffering. They gathered all the strength they could by praying and remaining each other’s support system.
There came a point when Garth sensed Brian, his only son, was ready to give up.
So, during Garth’s next hospital visit, he decided to give Brian a little ‘pep talk,’ as he called it. While sitting by his bedside, Garth leaned over and told Brian he was the only thing he and JoAnne had; he was the light of their lives, and they needed him.
Then came the miracle.
Brian woke up. His breathing tubes were removed. And when he was finally able to talk again, he said it was father’s bedside pep talk that ultimately spurred his incredible comeback.
Brian was determined to put himself back together with a renewed spirit.”
When you’re hands are tied, and your back is against the wall, sometimes all you can do is speak the truth in love. That’s what Brian’s dad did, and the results were amazing. Who knows what Garth had on his mind that day, he probably never dreamed that his words would bring his baby boy back to consciousness, but it did.
Words have power, they always have and they always will.
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