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Fighting for Life With Thousands of Prayers

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“I just knew life had stopped for us and I remember looking out the UK window and there was a football game and people were going, and I said, ‘These people's lives are just going on, they're laughing and talking, and we're in this room and our lives have stopped,’” says Chris, Aaron’s father.

It was homecoming weekend for bath county high school in Kentucky. On the way to the dance 16-year-old, Aaron Williams lost control of his car and slammed into a tree. Aaron sustained massive head trauma and was unconscious as the car burst into flames. Brock Baber drove by the scene just moments after the accident. Brock remembers, “There was a-a man carrying what looked-looked to be a body and he was bringing it up towards the tailgate of his truck. It was very traumatic. They were just kind of in shock and at a loss for what to do. And something just came over me and I said, ‘Guys, I’m going to pray.’”

Brock’s prayer was the first of thousands for Aaron. Homecoming was canceled and students gathered at a local church to pray. His parents Chris and veronica rushed to the UK hospital uncertain of Aaron’s condition. His mom Veronica says, “I couldn't get there fast enough. I-I needed to see him. I needed to see what he looked like. I needed to – I needed to be there.”

“I stopped at that curb,” says Chris, “kneeled down, and asked God to save my son.
Aaron was in a coma with traumatic brain injury and on life support. A doctor told Chris the prognosis. Chris remembers the conversation, “He said, ‘Your son won’t live through the night.’ He had a diffuse axonal Brain Injury. In Layman’s terms, they told me his brain has been decapitated from his body and all the neurons are just spinning in his head.”

According to the doctor, ninety percent of people with his injury don’t survive; the remaining ten percent live with permanent mental or physical disabilities. Over the next few days, classmates and the community came to pray for Aaron in the trauma unit.

Veronica says, “You can't go back there unless the nurses let you, but they let all 200 people come in and see him. And we asked her at one time, ‘Why?’ And she said because they didn't expect him to make it.” He clung to life as prayer gatherings and encouraging emails came in from around the world. Chris and veronica put their faith in god for a miracle--despite the prognosis.

Chris says, “Every time a doctor would tell us something, what they knew, professionally knew, my wife and I would look at each other and say, ‘Let's trust God. Let's just keep trusting God. No matter what they just told us, let's trust God.’”

Five days after the accident Chris and Veronica feared they would be asked to remove Aaron from life support. That night veronica says she fought for Aaron’s life in prayer.  She says, “I laid – I opened up the Bible. I read those scriptures. I prayed. I read out of the Bible and I prayed. And I went all the way around his bed. I did this for two solid hours. And I knew, at that moment, I knew God was in control, everything that was happening, God was in it. And I knew it was gonna be okay. I knew it.

Twelve hours later Aaron suddenly showed signs of brain activity when he responded to a nurse applying pressure to his broken collarbone. Chris says, “She grabbed that broken collarbone and pressed on it as hard as she could press. She said, ‘Aaron, you’ve been in a car wreck. I need you to give me a thumbs up.’ and just in the nick of time that day, nothing before, Aaron gave a thumbs up.”

He was transferred to a rehab hospital but remained in a vegetative state coma. Then, 43 days after the accident, a friend noticed something different about Aaron. Veronica remembers, “One of them, Clay, said, he said, ‘He's trying to talk to us.’ And I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘He's trying to tell us something.’ He said, ‘Do you have an iPad?’ So we opened it up and got it started and they put it in his hands and he instantly – he opened it up on the notes and started texting, ‘What's wrong with me? How long have I been here? Why can't I talk? Why can't I walk?" He had so many questions. It went on for an hour. And that day was wonderful 'cause that was the day we knew he was there.”

Against all odds, Aaron was back—he had to learn to speak and walk again, but was soon fully functional, and thankful for the prayers that sustained him. Aaron says, “Whenever I first woke up, I thought I was just in a regular car wreck, regular old car wreck. I wasn't – I didn't know all the details yet. So I was like, ‘Isn't there a lot of people that get in car wrecks and they don't have prayer groups like this.’ And I was just amazed. I'm thankful to have all – everybody around me that supports me and helps me through everything that I go through.”

Chris says, “I believe and pay tribute to an Almighty God who heard the prayers of thousands of people. There is power in prayer.”

Veronica says, “What the doctors have told us, what he has come through; you have to believe that it's a miracle. There's no doubt.”

Aaron returned to school and graduated in 2018. He’s attending college in Kentucky, pursuing an engineering degree. Chris and veronica are thankful for all the prayers, and the presence of God when they needed him most. Veronica says, “When you have a crisis in your life, you need Him. And you've got to be ready, you gotta be prayed up, because if I wasn't, I-I wouldn't be in the situation where I could have done that for my son. I couldn't have prayed for him. And I know that's the only thing that has helped him. And if you're not a Christian, you-you can't – you can't pray for that. And if you want that miracle in your life, you better know God.

Chris says, “Aaron is proof in God and hopes, even though I was told there was no hope. There's always hope with Jesus, always hope with Jesus.”


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About The Author

Rob Hull
Rob
Hull

Rob Hull has been writing, shooting and producing stories for CBN since 2008. His love of sharing redemptive, Christ centered stories began with video productions at his local church in Bellingham Washington before moving to Nashville to join the CBN staff. He loves the process of creating emotionally moving images that help tell the story of God’s love for people.