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Real-life Christmas Miracles And Their Stories

Whether you like it or not (and we hope that you do, Scrooge) we are now fully in the rundown to Christmas! The mulled wine is brewing, the presents are being wrapped and the mistletoe is waiting to be smooched under. It really is the most wonderful time of the year; when friends and family get together; we give thanks for all that we have and look forward to the new year. 

It’s also the time when incredible (and sometimes downright unbelievable) things happen. I’m talking real-life, bonafide Christmas miracles. From random acts of kindness and charity to unfathomable recoveries and the completely unexplainable. We’re partial to a good story at Iternal, and even more so when they’re as great as the ones we’ve got for you today!

Marko Dutschak Walks Again

When 7-year old Marko had a cyst removed from his spine, doctors in Austria told the boy and his parents that he’d never walk again after being left with a spinal cord as ‘thin as a piece of thread’. 

Though they made the entirely fair prediction, doctors didn’t give up on Marko and began taking the small steps towards helping Marko get on his feet, though he was still largely bound to a wheelchair.

Until one December morning leading to Christmas, Marko’s mother walked in to find the boy standing up and pacing his room, despite having ‘virtually no spinal cord’! She described it as “the best Christmas present ever. We thought he would spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.”

Read more here. 

Alcides Moreno Survives Falling 47 Stories

You may or may not believe in miracles, but after plummeting 144 metres from the side of a New York City skyscraper and surviving, I think Alcides Moreno does. 

The window cleaner was elevated 473 ft in the air on a washing platform that’s cables slipped from their attachment point, leaving Alcides and his brother Edgar to free fall the giant height. 

Unfortunately, Edgar died on impact, but Alcides was found alive; though in severe critical condition, he was conscious and breathing.

After being medically induced into a coma, Alcides awoke on Christmas day in 2007 with his wife by his side. 

“If you’re looking for a medical miracle, this certainly qualifies,” said Dr Herbert Pardes, the then-president and CEO of New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

Read more here. 

Ship Rescues 14,000 Refugees With Zero Casualties

In December 1950, at the peak of the Korean War, when the United Nations Command troops were executing a tactical withdrawal of their forces from North Korea, thousands of refugees turned up in the hopes they would be evacuated. 

Unfortunately, this wasn’t sanctioned, and they would have remained in North Korea if not for Leonard LaRue, Captain of the SS Meredith Victory; a small United States Merchant Marine Victory ship, designed to carry only 12 passengers with a 47-person crew. 

On December 21 Captain LaRue managed to get 14,000 refugees on board for the 450 nautical mile trip to Busan. With no means of defence, the ship made it out of dock – being razed by the North Korean military to prevent escapes – navigated minefields and endured freezing temperatures.

Unbelievably, the ship made it to Busan on Christmas Day, 1950, with zero casualties or injuries. Reflecting on the trip, LaRue said:

“I think often of that voyage. I think of how such a small vessel was able to hold so many persons and surmount endless perils without harm to a soul. And, as I think, the clear, unmistakable message comes to me that on that Christmastide, in the bleak and bitter waters off the shores of Korea, God’s own hand was at the helm of my ship.”

Read more here.

A Miraculous Birth In The UK

Becoming a parent is nothing short of nerve-wracking, especially if you haven’t planned for it. Now imagine you hadn’t planned for it, and on top of that, you NEVER KNEW you were pregnant. 

Well, that’s exactly what happened to Leanne Carter, who was 21 at the time of giving birth to her son Joseph on Christmas Day 2012. Leanne showed no signs of pregnancy whatsoever – no growth, no internal movement, no change to her period cycle. 

It was only after her mum encouraged her to go to the hospital for severe period pains that she found out she was pregnant! On the unbelievable event, Leanne said “Joseph is definitely the most surprising but the best Christmas present ever.” 

Read more here

Humans Reach The Moon

I don’t know about you but the idea of humans being able to get into space and spend extended time there is still quite mindblowing to me – despite us being able to do so for some 50+ years. 

Now imagine what it was like in 1968 when the Apollo 8 NASA operation took the first humans to the moon and back?

 Granted, they didn’t leave the spaceship; they orbited the moon (on Christmas Day, of course) and returned again, safe and sound and with some great pictures. 

Though they didn’t walk on the moon, the Apollo 8 mission set a huge precedent for all space travel thereafter and immortalised Frank F. Borman II; James A. Lovell Jr. and William A. Anders as the first humans to leave low Earth orbit, and reach another astronomical object.

Read more here.

Christmas Day Ceasefire

Perhaps one of the more well-known Christmas miracles and for good reason. On Christmas Day in 1914 – only five months after the initial hostilities began – there were a series of widespread unofficial ceasefires along the Western Front of the First World War around Christmas 1914, between the fighting factions. 

In the week leading up to Christmas soldiers from both sides started to halt their assaults to talk and exchange season’s greetings with one another. On Christmas Day, soldiers were mingling; exchanging food and souvenirs with people they had been trying to kill just days before. 

Opportunities were taken to retrieve the dead; joint burial ceremonies were held and prisoners were swapped. Not only was their carol-singing, but many of the men played games of football with one another, demonstrating the shared humanity and compassion in all, even in the darkest of times. 

Read more here.

Miracles Do Happen

If that’s not enough to convince you that Christmas Miracles really do happen, I don’t know what will. There’s plenty more out there too, these are just some of the best. But what about your Christmas miracle? Has something so incredible ever happened to you at this most wonderful time of year? These are the sorts of memories that deserve to have a place forever on your Iternal timeline!

Log in today and if you haven’t already, sign-up here for absolutely free! If you’re an Android user; you can download the Iternal app for free, just in time to save those Christmas Stories!

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