The Hand of Providence

“Tout est grace,” said St. Thérèse of Lisieux — “all is grace.” God’s hand of providence is at work in all things. But sometimes it is more evident than in others, as in the case of Jay Yim.

I put up a prayer request for Jay a few weeks ago, although then I didn’t know his name. I listed him only as “the 21-year-old man who collapsed on mile 18 of the Los Angeles Marathon.” Well, your prayers were answered!

It turns out that when Jay, a 21-year-old pre-med student at the University of Southern California, went into cardiac arrest on the marathon course, he had the good fortune of collapsing within the sight of Los Angeles Police Officer Josh Sewell, who moved him off the course and, with the help of a fellow cop, began administering CPR.

But the blessings didn’t end there. As, providence would have it, a bystander in the area was Dr. Charles Chandler of UCLA, who, working with the officers, was able to restore Jay’s pulse.

Then Jay was brought to the closest hospital, which just so happened to be UCLA Medical Center — one of a relatively few hospitals that offer a rare, cutting-edge procedure known as therapeutic hypothermia. Basically, using specialized equipment, doctors were able to lower Jay’s body temperature to 89.6 degrees, thereby protecting his organs from damage while giving his brain, to quote his doctor, “time to reboot.”

Thanks to the immediate CPR and medical attention, followed by the cutting-edge treatment, Jay now looks destined for a full recovery with no permanent damage. Praise God!

Still, there’s more to this very cool story: Remember Officer Sewell, the cop who tended to Jay on the scene? He's a fellow marathoner who ran L.A. in 2006. Officer Sewell also seems to be a great guy: He spent considerable time in the hospital with Jay these last few weeks monitoring his recovery. He now promises that when Jay is up to it, he will run the last 8.2 miles of the marathon route with him.

God is good all the time — and His grace is everywhere.