I’d like to take a few minutes to tell you a story. It’s a story that has been recounted to me many times, but bears repeating again. And if you, whoever you are, need to bolster your faith, need to believe again in a Heavenly Father who is your deliverer, healer, and miracle worker, keep reading!
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Sixteen years ago today, on June 14, 1996, Johnny, a 49 year old trouble-shooter for an electric utility (Electric Power Board AKA – EPB) was on top of a telephone pole, assisting a coworker after a storm had caused some outages. He needed to climb the pole and his coworker, Gary, rode up in the bucket or cherry-picker as they are sometimes called.
It had just rained and it was about 3pm. Johnny had worked for his employer for 27 years and had won safety awards. He was scheduled to get off shortly and had a lot on his mind. His daughter would be getting married in 3-4 weeks. He was anxious to get home. While he and Gary were working on the pole, the lines were dead and thus Johnny wasn’t wearing the usual safety gloves as they are a cumbersome and they weren’t necessary with the lines being dead.
The two men had finished the job and were about to give the go-ahead for the power to be switched back on when Johnny noticed an insulator that needed a little maintenance. He thought, “If I don’t do this now, I’ll end up being called back up here to fix this later on.” He reached over to it not knowing the line had already been “made hot” and received a 7500 volt charge that entered his right hand and exited out of his left leg. The shock caused such a flash that cars on the road pulled over and people came out of the nearby restaurant to see what had happened. The charge would continue until a 50 amp fuse down the line blew. Johnny had received more than double the electricity used in an electric chair and was basically dead on the pole, hanging by his leather safety belt.
His coworker, Gary, did everything right. He first notified his dispatcher of the emergency, then quickly began to attempt resuscitation, which isn’t easy on top of a pole.
By this time, there was a crowd of people watching. Thankfully, he was able to bring Johnny back. For some reason though, Gary didn’t have a knife to cut Johnny’s safety belt loose. He needed to cut him loose from the belt, get him into the bucket and lower him to the ground. Just by “chance”, there happened to be a bystander in the crowd who was both a pocket-knife collector and a former minor league baseball pitcher. He just “happened” to have 7 knives on him. When Gary yelled down, asking if anyone had a knife, this man quickly responded and with one toss, the knife made it from the ground to the top of the pole for Gary to catch.
Johnny was transported to the hospital via helicopter, Lifeforce to be exact, from Signal Mountain to Erlanger. His son was working for the EPB in a summer position when a manager called him to his office and said his father had been injured that afternoon and immediately drove him to the hospital.
When his son arrived at the hospital, Johnny’s wife, several VPs and the CEO from the EPB were there already. The son and mother went and saw Johnny before they took him for emergency surgery. His first words were, “Honey, I’m sorry.” His right hand looked like it had been replaced by a hand made out of black coal. He was terribly thirsty having been literally cooked from the inside out. Since he was about to go into surgery, all they could give him was a drop of water on his tongue every minute or so.
The doctors feared the worst. They amputated his right hand (he was right hand dominant) and after that first surgery, the family was told his heart, liver, lungs, any internal organs could have been irreversibly damaged. His left leg had been essentially blown up from the inside out by the electricity. They were told he might not live and if he did, he would certainly never walk. They might have to amputate his leg as well.
He spent 6 weeks in the Erlanger Burn Unit having several muscle grafts and infection debridements. It turns out, Johnny’s liver, lungs, heart and other internal organs were fine. The doctors couldn’t explain it.
While Johnny was in the Burn Unit, his daughter got married as planned. Except they held the wedding on a Saturday at Erlanger in the old Medical Mall with security keeping the media outside the building. Two nurses escorted Johnny in his bed down to the wedding. He was allowed 30 minutes out of the Burn Unit – something unheard of. There was not a single dry eye during that wedding. The groom was a mess. Everyone was a mess. Johnny gave his daughter away ; he wore a green robe that was purchased for him especially for the wedding.
During those 6 weeks of recovery, EPB employees brought home-cooked food to the burn unit every afternoon, enough to feed anyone there including the Burn Unit staff.
Johnny amazed the doctors with his recovery and his attitude. The Burn Unit staff hated to see him go as he lightened up the atmosphere there – always singing, telling jokes, etc.
After 6 weeks in the Burn Unit, Johnny was moved to Siskin Hospital. There he eventually was able to walk and they got him started learning how to write with his left hand. Despite the significant impairment he incurred, Johnny returned to work and everyday life.
This man I’ve told you about today is my father-in-law, Johnny Day, Michael’s dad. These days, Johnny is known as “Grandaddy” around our house. He is not only a wonderful husband, father, grandfather, gardener and Sunday School teacher (just to name a few of the many things he does) he is a faithful testimony, living tangible evidence of God’s healing power and miraculous strength.
Whenever I recount this story I am encouraged – and I hope you are too! We have a Heavenly Father who is still in the business of miracles.
This blog post was written mostly by my husband, with a narrative added by me. 🙂
Isaac, grilling with grandaddy!
the Ridgerator with his grandmama and grandaddy
Em, and a good laugh on Easter Sunday morning.
daily portion 