ORIGINALLY WRITTEN DON RATZLAFF
Doctors and onlookers say it?s a miracle that 9-year-old Jessica Luna
of Hillsboro is walking around with only scrapes and bruises barely a
week after she was hit by a car while riding her bike near her home.
Her parents, Donna and Ernie Luna, don?t use the M-word lightly. They
say the miracle happened right before their eyes.
?I don?t know what happened,? Donna says. ?I just know what I saw.?
What they saw first that Saturday evening was every parent?s worst
nightmare. Hearing the screech of car tires, the Lunas rushed outside
their First Street home to find Jessica lying face down, unconscious
in a pool of blood, her body convulsing. The impact of the collision
had thrown her 15 to 20 feet from the car that struck her.
?I ran out there and, not thinking that I could have hurt her more if
she would have had spinal or neck injuries, I just picked her up,?
Ernie says. ?She looked terrible.?
Jessica?s arms and legs were twisted grotesquely, like they were
broken, Donna says, and her left shoulder appeared to be dislocated.
While Ernie held his injured daughter, Donna ran back into the house
to call 911.
?When I went back out, she was still convulsing,? Donna said. ?That
had to have lasted a couple of minutes.?
Then a terrible situation turned worse. To the horror of her parents,
Jessica?s eyes rolled back in her head and her body went limp.
?To us it was like her last breath,? Ernie says. ?We were terrified.
We just figured she was dying on us.?
All they could think to do was ask for Divine intervention.
?Ernie and I were just praying to the one and only Physician, asking
him to heal her because how could we go on without her?? Donna says.
Moments later, it happened.
?Suddenly, she just abruptly startled to consciousness, her eyes wide
awake,? Donna recalls. ?She started thrashing and screaming
and?honestly, believe me?her arms and legs were straight and her
shoulder was in her socket.?
The Lunas realize their story sounds incredible.
?Take it for what you want,? Donna says. ?But I?ve told people that
the Lord saved her on that street. They look at me like they don?t
understand what I?m saying. But to miss out and not believe the power
of God?s healing is to miss out on a lot of blessings.?
The Lunas say that dramatic moment was only the first of several
evidences of Divine involvement that weekend.
One of the first people on the scene was Jewel Winter, a registered
nurse from Denver, Colo., who saw the accident happen from the front
yard of her parents-in-law, Floyd and Carolyn Winter.
She gently encouraged Ernie to lay Jessica back on the ground
carefully in order to minimize the possibility of further injury.
?To have a medical person on the spot?the Lord just worked that out so
well,? Donna said.
Susie Kliewer, a local nurse, came upon the accident moments later and
offered her assistance, too.
?They were so sweet and gentle, and helped us out so much,? Donna
said.
Meanwhile, neighbors and passersby began to gather. Spontaneously,
they began praying for Jessica?s well-being.
?The flood of people who came out to the street and were praying out
loud, holding and hugging and praying?it was like the breath of God
swept down onto us,? Donna said.
The ambulance eventually arrived and took Jessica to Hillsboro
Community Medical Center, where medical personnel did an initial
examination.
The attending physician told the Lunas he could not find obvious
evidence of internal injuries, but recommended a CT scan to be sure.
Because the local unit was in repair, Jessica was transferred to
Wesley Medical Center in Wichita.
Despite the miracle on the street, the Lunas were well aware their
daughter was not quite out of the woods as they awaited the trip to
Wichita.
?We just thought every second that went by was a matter of life or
death,? Donna says. ?We didn?t know if she was bleeding inside. It was
awful, just awful.?
Wesley personnel performed the CT scan and other tests. Initial
results indicated Jessica might be bleeding internally.
In the meantime, the Lunas say a network of prayer was forming
literally across the country?from extended family who had moved
recently from Hillsboro to the East Coast, to the children of their
pastor, who were vacationing in California.
The network extended even to a neighborhood bar in Illinois, where
Donna?s stepmother was working. One of the customers who began praying
for Jessica was a rough-living former drug addict.
?She told him our story and he said, ?Well, I like kids. I?ve got two
of my own, and I?ll pray for her?and I don?t even pray,?? Donna
recounts from her stepmother.
Meanwhile, many people in Hillsboro were praying into the night and
the following Sunday morning?not only members of the Luna?s home
congregation at Ebenfeld Church, but several other local churches,
too.
?Even without knowing any of the test results, that was such a relief
in itself that so many people love the Lord so much that they?ll pray
for people they don?t even know,? Donna said.
Shortly after 10 a.m. on Sunday morning, the final test results came
in: Jessica was not bleeding internally.
?God saved her from the most obvious injuries from such an accident,?
Donna says now. ?Members of the trauma team told us they could not
believe how well she was. The neurosurgeon said, ?We see kids in here
every day who have been hit by cars, and they all sustain one or all
of either multiple fractures, internal bleeding and brain damage?even
with helmets. He said, ?They never walk out the same, and your child
is walking out without even a chipped tooth.??
Adds Donna: ?I said to him, ?My husband and I strongly believe in the
power of prayer. And he said, ?So do I.??
Jessica was dismissed from Wesley last Tuesday morning. She has had
some pain and fever during her recovery at home, and the scrapes and
bruises are still healing, but she is making a full recovery, the
Lunas said.
Their experiences have only deepened a faith in God that was already
strong. Their faith in this community has deepened, too.
?I?m just amazed how people come together in this town,? Ernie says.
?It was just unreal.?
?We really see how the Lord sent us to all the right places and all
the right people,? Donna adds. ?When you?re in the midst of the storm,
you don?t see how anything good is coming from
Mircale on First Street
