Power of Prayer Heals Man’s Lungs

Gasping for air, Zach said, “I couldn't breathe. My chest was getting heavy, and I was coughing.” It had been two weeks since pastors Zach Miller, his wife Mandy, and their kids had become ill in December 2020. While they were on the mend, Zach continued to get worse.

“I was concerned. I had, you know, heard all of the stories, – it did worry me,” recalls Mandy. Meanwhile, Mandy looked to her sister, Holly, a radiologist, for guidance. “He was struggling to breathe. His heart rate was over 200 beats per minute. I told Mandy that it was definitely time for Zach to go to the hospital,” said Holly. By then, Zach was so ill, Mandy had to call for an ambulance.

“We were all gathered. I remember just telling them, 'you have to pray. We need a miracle. I need you to pray,'” Zach remembers that day before the ambulance came. Zach was taken to Mercy Hospital in Rogers, Arkansas. Unable to stay with Zach in the hospital, Mandy waited in the parking lot. Finally, an ER doctor called. Zach was Covid positive and had critically low oxygen levels. The infection had gone septic and he was fighting double pneumonia. Even then, he believed with treatment and rest, Zach would be fine. Thinking of the phone call she received, Mandy said, “He assured me, he said this is going to be a very short stay. Zach is young and healthy, no pre-existing conditions.”

However, over those next few days Zach went into respiratory failure. By December 30th, doctors felt there was only one option. As a medical professional, Holly explained, “He was unable to oxygenate his blood. The ventilator, at that point, was his option for survival.” That was the last thing the Miller’s wanted. “I had heard that people who were put on ventilators would never come off,” said Mandy. Zach recalls, “The nurse came in and she simply said, 'You know what, this is where we’re going. We really need you to get on a ventilator.' I could see the urgency in her eyes.”

Finally, the couple agreed to have Zach intubated. At once Mandy prayed, trying to quiet the thoughts racing through her mind. “We've got to grow old together. I can't do this life without him,” Mandy said.

By now there was no time to waste, and the staff scheduled the procedure immediately. Before they wheeled Zach into ICU around 2.a.m., Mandy asked to FaceTime with her husband. Zach said, “and I remember Mandy waving at me and saying, "Babe, it's going to be okay, you got this.” Mancy recalls, “he gave me a thumbs up.”

It was then Mandy put another option in motion. She reached out on social media asking family, friends and the members of their congregation to wake people up and pray. “We had a zoom call set up and we just had people praying together. We had our staff and leadership praying and just singing and worshiping,” said Mandy.

“My prognosis was very guarded. However, I knew that hope and prayer and faith were the only things that were going to get us through this,” said Holly, who was very supportive of Mandy’s efforts to rally the prayer warriors. Mandy was thankful for those around her, “In the darkest point of my life, I could feel such hope and such peace through those prayers,” she said.

For the next nine days the prayers continued, and Zach remained critical, but stable. Then, on January 8th, doctors started weaning him off the ventilator, hoping his lungs were strong enough to breath on their own. Two days later on Sunday, January 10th, Mandy was leading an online church service, when she got a video chat call. The call interrupted the live stream, “It was his nurse, Michael, and he said, 'Hey, I was just calling to give you an update on Zach.' And then he turns the phone around and puts it on Zach. And it took me, probably a good five seconds or so before it dawned on me, oh, my goodness, the tube is out,” said Mandy. 

The next day, Zach was moved out of the ICU to a stepdown room. Happy to be out of the ICU Zach recalls those next moments, “I could just feel the presence of God. I looked over at the oxygen monitor, they keep a pulse-ox on your finger, at the time it was at 90. Right after I sat up, it went all the way up and my oxygen levels were as high as they had ever been.” Seven days later, Zach was discharged. And while it would take eight more weeks of rest, he fully recovered. “The fact that he didn't have long-term complications is a testimony to the healing that God did in Zach through this process,” said Holly. 

Today, Zach and Mandy look forward to healthy, happy lives - grounded by a faith rooted in prayer. “Prayer became my lifeline. It became everything,” Mandy said. “Over and over in my life, I've learned one thing, that God is faithful,” said Zach.