Feb 12, 2008 11:01 pm US/Central
Family Plans Funeral, Woman Miraculously Recovers
LAKE ELMO, Minn. (WCCO) ―
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What the family considers a miracle began after doctors removed Rae's breathing tube and waited for her to die. The family held a prayer service and had already begun the grieving process, daughter Lisa Sturm said. (File)
CBS
A Twin Cities family says they've always believed in miracles and they've got proof that they can happen.
Raleane "Rae" Kupferschmidt's loved ones were planning her funeral and saying their last goodbyes when the 65-year-old appeared to wake up from her coma. The doctors told their family:
"There's nothing we can do, the bleed is so bad and the pressure is so bad on her brain that she will never wake up and I'm sorry to tell you that. I mean those were his words exactly," recalled Lisa Sturm, Rae's daughter.
The bleeding in Rae's brain, who had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, was so massive that her family had her airway tube removed, and were waiting for her to die.
"So we lived for 2 1/2 days holding her hand and waiting for her to die," said Alan Kupferschmidt, Rae's husband.
"So we did put the funeral home of her choice on call," said Lisa Sturm.
Doctors had told the family that Rae might have a "lucid moment" shortly before passing away.
"We saw it as a gift," said Alan Kupferschmidt, Rae's husband.
But when doctors said such moments only last up to 20 minutes and Rae's lasted a weekend, Alan Kupferschmidt knew his wife might not be brain dead if allowed to live.
"'We've got to turn this train around,' I said, 'because hospice is a one-way track to the funeral home, and Rae's not ready to go," he recalled.
This week the Kupferschmidts are planning for Rae's homecoming from the hospital four weeks after they had planned her funeral.
What the family considers a miracle began after doctors removed Rae's breathing tube and waited for her to die. The family held a prayer service and had already begun the grieving process, her daughter said.
The family took Rae home Jan. 18 to make her comfortable before she died. Sturm said she used an ice cube to wet her mother's dry lips when her mother sucked on the ice cube.
"I knew suckling is a very basic brain stem function, so I didn't get real excited. But when I did it again she just about sucked the ice cube out of my hand, and I looked at my aunt and said, 'Did you see that?"' Sturm said.
"So I leaned down and asked, 'Mom... Mom, are you in there?"' Sturm said. "And when she shook her head and mouthed, 'Yes,' we all just about fell over."
Rae Kupferschmidt, who has since had surgery to drain the excess blood from her skull, said she doesn't remember much from that weekend home from the hospital. But she and her family say they now see every day as a divine gift.
"I still don't know what my task is here on this Earth, but I know God's not done with me yet. How else could you explain everything that has happened to me?" she asked.
Rae said her recovery is all a tribute to the power of prayer.
She is going home from the hospital on Wednesday. Her doctors at United Hospital in St. Paul say what's she survived isn't unheard of, they just haven't seen anything like it in their careers.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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