{"id":15940,"date":"2026-03-10T12:26:49","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T12:26:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/uncategorized\/with-gods-help-and-a-caregiver-at-his-side-he-was-given-a-second-chance-at-life\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T06:00:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T06:00:33","slug":"with-gods-help-and-a-caregiver-at-his-side-he-was-given-a-second-chance-at-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/angels-and-miracles\/miracles\/gods-grace\/with-gods-help-and-a-caregiver-at-his-side-he-was-given-a-second-chance-at-life\/","title":{"rendered":"With God’s Help and a Caregiver at His Side, He Was Given a Second Chance at Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Faith inspired the name of the Alpha and Omega Care Center in Pretoria, South Africa\u2014the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet representing the Lord and his son. That appealed to 22-year-old Virna van der Walt.<\/p>\n

When she went to work there, in April of 1998, Virna had studied nursing and assisted at a homeopathic practice. Now she was ready for a challenge, providing day care to young people with crippling disabilities. Other institutions had turned these patients away. Alpha and Omega was their last hope.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho\u2019s he?\u201d Virna asked the head caregiver her first day, pointing to an older boy with cropped hair, slumped in a wheelchair in front of a television set. Barney the purple dinosaur danced on the screen.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: CHRISTIAN PRAYERS BRING MIRACLE HEALING<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t mind Martin,\u201d the woman said. \u201cHe\u2019s been here almost ten years. No higher brain function.\u201d<\/p>\n

MARTIN: <\/strong>That awful Barney. His dopey voice and shrill theme song. I wasn\u2019t a kid. I was 22! Had I liked this stuff when I was younger? I couldn\u2019t remember. I couldn\u2019t remember a lot of things. I also couldn\u2019t move. I could only shift my eyes, jerk my head or contort my lips into a half smile. They said my gestures were involuntary muscle spasms.<\/em><\/p>\n

Martin\u2019s father dropped him off at the center every weekday morning at seven and picked him up after work. Virna introduced herself one day. \u201cTell me about your son,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was such a bright boy,\u201d his fa\u00adther said with a sigh. \u201cHe could take apart our home computer and put it back together with his eyes closed. His younger brother and sister, David and Kim, were always trying to play with his elaborate LEGO creations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin was 12 when he got sick in 1988. Everyone thought it was the flu, but Martin spent months in bed. He grew disoriented and didn\u2019t rec\u00adognize anyone. Over time, he be\u00adcame completely unresponsive.<\/p>\n

Doctors believed Martin had a neurological disorder. Tuberculosis of the brain? Cryptococcal meningi\u00adtis? There was no answer and nothing medicine could do.<\/p>\n

MARTIN:<\/strong> I gazed out the car window, watched the city whiz by. People walk\u00ading down the tree-lined streets, young and old. Would I ever get to live like that? Dad toggled the radio to a news program. I listened to the places and names: Cape Town. Nelson Mandela. Apartheid. Things I only dimly under\u00adstood. <\/em><\/p>\n

For the past six years I\u2019d been <\/em>conscious of my surroundings, slowly piecing things together by listening. Like when Dad said I was a bright boy. <\/em> I wanted to hug him. But I couldn\u2019t help noticing he spoke in the past tense. <\/em><\/p>\n

There was only one thing I was sure I had known forever: God. I didn\u2019t remember church, or the Bible. But I knew God. I felt him. I wasn\u2019t the only one who knew I was still inside my frozen body. God knew. I prayed he\u2019d find a way to let someone else know too.<\/em><\/p>\n

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