Hospital Stunned by 12-Year-Old Boy’s Miraculous Recovery After Hundreds Pray for Healing
Faith in the midst of crisis is a beautiful thing, for it is often a crisis that truly tests our beliefs and teaches us about the undeniable power of prayer.
With the new faith-inspired film “Breakthrough” released this year, we are seeing powerful prayer from many different angles. Now the amazing community of Grayson, Kentucky, is being thanked for praying for a young man who collapsed during a little league practice.
William Burton, 12 years old, suffered a cardiac arrest on the field on April 9. He was taken to King’s Daughters Medical Center and soon was airlifted to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Kentucky Today reported.
“It was chaos,” Grayson First Baptist Church pastor Josh Schmidt told Kentucky Today. “So much was happening, and he was in bad shape.”
Schmidt went on to say that William’s mom, Amy Burton, “began quoting scripture and singing.” The boy suffers from long QT syndrome and is prone to heart problems.
Kentucky Today has followed the story closely. The news outlet not only shared about the family’s strong prayers — including William’s prayer warrior grandmother Teri Huffine — but also reported that the community and beyond took to praying for him. He was even getting prayers from Zimbabwe!
“We know God is hearing the prayers of His people on behalf of William!” Derrick and Amy Burton wrote on Facebook April 10.
“We are humbled by the love and support all over the world!” his parents went on. “Our beautiful son is in a fight for his life … Our God is a Mighty Healer and he loves William more than any of us can ever imagine. We feel your prayers and thank you for your love and support for our boy and our family.”
Miracle after miracle took place in William’s body in the days leading up to Easter Sunday. The community even sent cards wishing him well. “It feels amazing that I have been loved like this my whole life,” William shared with Kentucky Today.
William was able to go home just in time for the holiday weekend. “Easter has always been special to us,” Amy Burton said. “We knew the power of the resurrection through our salvation but the fact that God saved William brought it out even more.”
The family is so thankful for everyone’s prayers and for all the doctors and nurses who worked so hard to help their son. Through it all, they wanted God’s will, whatever that meant.
“William is a Christian,” William’s dad, Derrick, said. “We were at peace either way. If He takes him, praise God. If we have more time, praise God. I’m not saying it wasn’t hard… It was one of the truest points of my life that I had to say I am putting my faith in action. I was at peace.”
A truly inspiring story and a testament to the family — and community’s — unwavering faith. It is wonderful to see William home again and hopefully, he will be back out on the field again soon. If you would like to contribute to the family’s medical expenses, please visit their GoFundMe page.
UPDATE, May 18, 2019: Liftable, a section of The Western Journal, received the following response from Derrick and Amy Burton.
“We have been told by many of the medical professionals who worked on him, from the retired nurse who did cpr at the field, the EMTs, to nurses in the ER at King’s Daughters, that there wasn’t anymore more they could do for William. He is a miracle. He is only here because God wanted him to be. God went before is in every step of this!”
“We live in a large rural county and the closest hospital is 30 minutes away. Many times our 911 service is down or the ambulances are busy on other calls. That day, the Critical Care ambulance was just minutes away. Not only that, but 2 more ambulances came as well! God also knew what He was doing in allowing this to happen at the ball field. If this had happened at home it would not have made such an impact. Instead, He allowed it to happen in a public community spot and baseball is America’s game! Immediately people felt connected to our story!”
“When William arrived at Cincinnati Children’s his ejection fraction (how strong his heart squeezes) was just 20. That is transplant level! By Saturday, it was 64! Totally normal (55-65 is normal)!! Also, before starting to wean William off the paralytic medicine, the nurses were preparing me that he would need speech, occupational, and physical therapy and they would send those therapists in soon after he woke. He didn’t need any of them!! William woke up tired but as if nothing ever happened! He was also days ahead of schedule in waking up! He is a miracle that he is alive, but it is another miracle that he has no brain damage and no heart damage! He hasn’t even had fatigue or soreness from his surgery! I cannot keep the kid down! Thankfully, the kids in our community came together and bought him a Nintendo Switch that has given him something to do while he is idle for 6 weeks.”
“He went back for a follow-up appointment with the surgeon. His incision is healing up great and his device (ICD: pacemaker and defibrillator in one) is working as it should. However, in the past 2 weeks since getting his device it has not needed to work! William’s heart is strong and is functioning on its own! The ICD is there ‘just in case.’ He still is on a strict ‘no activity’ restriction for the next 4 weeks. In June he is able to start some light activity and plans to do a golf clinic. In July we will discuss the possibility of returning to baseball and basketball (his true love) with his electrophysiologist. We are praying that God will work another miracle for him to get to play but we are also trusting that God knows the bigger picture even if he can’t.”
“Because of William’s journey, so much good is coming from it. We have gotten [messages] from Ball teams all over the country telling us they have already purchased their AEDs and several schools, churches, and businesses in our small town have as well! But not only are physical bodies being saved, but spiritual bodies are as well! We are constantly getting messages from complete strangers telling us ‘I want to know the Jesus that you know’ or ‘this has renewed my faith.'”
The Burton family also indicated that the Cincinnati Reds have asked William to throw out the first pitch on June 30, 2019, for American Heart Association day.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
