“911, I need to report a crash. There’s a boy, his head’s gushing blood in the back seat.”
The caller was 18-year-old Lexi Asa. The “boy” was her 16-year-old brother Bobby. Bobby was backing into their father’s driveway, when another car slammed into the driver’s side. The impact was so violent, first responders found him in the back seat of the car.
Chris says, “He was completely out. No response to pain, he wasn’t moving his limbs. Over the years seeing patients this badly injured, I didn’t see how there could be a positive outcome.”
As Bobby was rushed to the nearest hospital, Lexi called her mother Heather, who lives an hour away. Heather and the rest of the family gathered at Legacy Emmanuel Hospital in Portland, Oregon. There, they found Bobby in a coma and on a ventilator. An MRI confirmed he had suffered brain trauma and a broken neck.
Doctors repaired Bobby’s neck and took measures to reduce swelling on his brain, but gave the family little hope he would come out of his coma, assuming he survived.
Lexi says, “If he ever wakes up, he’s going to be a quadriplegic. And we just sat there and cried.”
After 8 days in ICU with no improvement, Doctors told the family Bobby needed a tracheotomy. Some doctors advised to take Bobby off life support all together. But a mother’s heart sensed that this fight wasn’t over. So, the family approved the tracheotomy. Afterwards, they along with a large group of friends held a prayer vigil outside the hospital.
Bobby remained stable over the next several days, but still showed no signs of improvement. By now, a firestorm of prayer was sweeping through social media, his mother and three sisters refusing to leave his bedside.
Lexi says, “And I literally thanked God every single day for that Bobby’s walking and talking like before. I just thanked him for things that I knew was to come.”
Lorielle says, “We were like, ‘God, we need you. Bobby is sleeping. Like, these people can’t do anything for Bobby. We need you to start waking this kid up. We need a miracle.’”
Bobby had been in the ICU 2 weeks when they started noticing small movements. By the end of 4 weeks, doctors were able to remove Bobby’s trach tube, and move him to rehab. Gradually he came out of his coma. One day, he was finally able to speak.
Bobby stayed in rehab for ten weeks building his strength and relearning the basics of life like, how to walk and feed himself. Every day was a new challenge, but he knew who could get him back.
Bobby says, “I was literally hanging by a thread, it was like so easy to break. But then God pulled it up and therefore it turned into a rope. Because now it’s like I’m almost completely back to the same as I was.”
Bobby continues to get better and stronger. He and his family thank God for every new day.
Lexi says, “It just shows you that prayer is not like some myth, like it works. He’s a miracle worker, He makes miracles and He’s a healer.”
Heather concludes, “I look at Bobby every day, and he is a walking, talking miracle. He should not be here. And if he is here, he shouldn’t be doing what he’s doing. And it’s incredible to think that God can take something and turn it around like that.”