|
||||||||||||||
|
Site Directory
Home
 
History
Calendar/Events
Albert Huerta
Joseph's Corner
Media Galleries
Photo Gallery
Video Gallery
TV & Radio
Podcast
Press Releases
Tour the Grounds
Tomb
Healing Water Cross
Three Crosses
Chapel
My Father's House
Prayer Requests
Prayer Warriors
Special Guests
Staff/Volunteers
Gift Shop
Contact Us
Directions
Donations
|
|
Joseph's Corner 
In 1991 I had a severe heart attack and by the time I got to the hospital I had a
10 percent chance of survival. Robert Vela, my best friend and doctor told me
afterwards that I had been purple and black from my chest up to my forehead and
foaming at the mouth. All that was left at that point, he said, was death.
My wife, family and friends were outside the emergency room when they were told at 9:30 p.m. I would not live past midnight. Then a priest came in and anointed me with the last rights. It was after that I woke up with a smile on my face. I felt a halo around my head and I was not in pain anymore. The doctors told me I would have to retire and would be disabled. I had lost a lot of heart muscle. I could only work two hours a day without talking to people or doing anything that would cause stress. With God's help I overcame that and that is when my life really changed. I became closer to God. On March 13, 1998 I was preparing to go to Houston to buy a brand new 1998 500SEL Mercedes Benz. Two months prior I had bought a white 1996 Mercedes Benz worth approximately $65,000. This new vehicle was going to cost about $100,000. My law partner and I had just settled a multi-million dollar case so I had enough to pay for the car in cash. I invited two my assistants, Rene Laurel and Art Garcia to go on the trip with me. We planned to go look at the car, visit some bars that night and the next day finish the transaction with the car before returning home. We left Corpus Christi at about 11 a.m. and as we were entering Refugio, Texas about 50 miles away I received word from my office that my son David had called. There was an emergency. My oldest son Joseph had an accident. I immediately called David, who was in Vail, Colo. skiing along with my son Joseph and my daughter Lisa. I asked him where and how the accident had happened. "Dad, he was skiing down a slope and lost control of the skies and fell into a ravine. He was unconscious when they took him out. There was no movement in his upper body and his feet were shaking," he said. "Dad, it's very serious. You need to come." The first thing I did was stop the car and hold hands with my two assistants. I asked God to keep him alive. I called the pastor of my church Msgr. Michael Heras and asked him to please put Joseph in prayer. He assured me he would. I then called my receptionist so that she may ask everyone in the office to pray for Joseph. On the way back to Corpus Christi I called everyone I could think of who was a close friend and asked them to please pray as well. I called the office again and talked to one of my partners. He told me that they had made arrangements to have a private jet take my wife and I to Denver where Joseph was transported by helicopter. By the time I got to my house my wife had packed. I called my best friend Robert to ask him some medical question s and he offered to come with us to Colorado. I threw some things into a suitcase, ran out, got into a vehicle and she and I were driven to the airport. As we were leaving Rosita Laurel gave me a pretty cross with St. Jude on it. On the flight to Denver I was sitting there thinking about my son when a vision came to me. It was Joseph. It was like watching television. His face was there, he looked good, he told me he was going to be OK and then faded away. Immediately there after I told my wife about the vision of Joseph. I had the same type of vision once when my mother-in-law was ill several years before. She was very sick and my sister-in-law was making funeral arrangements. She came to me and told me she was going to be OK. She got better and later walked out of the hospital. That very short vision gave me a lot of hope that my son was still alive and that he would recover. I felt like God was helping me to remain calm and peaceful and to have hope. The accident happened at noon. We arrived in Denver about 6:45 p.m. We went to the Denver Trauma Hospital and about 10:30 p.m. the doctor came out of surgery to explain Joseph's condition. They said the left portion of his skull had been fractured from the left to the right side of his forehead and his eye socket was broken. There was a big hole above his left ear and 23 pieces of bone were recovered from his brain. They told us Joseph was going to live but they could not guarantee the quality of life he would have. They believed he would be a quadriplegic and have the mentality of a 4-year-old. He wouldn't walk on his own or take care of himself. As soon as the doctors left I told my wife I would not accept what they had said. I told her I was going to put Joseph in the hands of God and ask Him for help. I recommended she do the same. When we were finally allowed to see Joseph we were shocked. Our son was barely recognizable. He looked like a swollen, bandaged block. He was in a coma that lasted for 12 days. And so it was then that his healing began and my life began to change. Every night and every opportunity I had I prayed to God the best I could because I really didn't know how. I begged Him to give me my son back. Even though I kept praying, I felt like I was not getting anywhere. The only prayer I had was the Novena to St. Jude and the cross that had been given to me before I left home. After a few days in Denver I went to the hospital chapel, got on my knees and asked God to give me back my son. I told God that if He gave me back my son Joseph I would write a check for a million dollars to anybody He wanted me to. I had enough money in my checking account to write the check. But God didn't answer me. My request was arrogant. I realize that now. The second time I went to the chapel I got on my knees, humbled myself and told God that I was putting our lives in His hands. If He gave me back my son I would glorify and magnify His name to the best of my ability. Then I openly cried like a baby. I cried and cried and cried and when I finished I felt very good. It was that night at approximately 3 a.m. I felt a surge of energy enter my body from the top of my head then warmly travel through my face, neck shoulders, arms, chest, stomach and pick up my legs then slam them on the bed. This feeling I received that night -- the surge of electricity, of energy, this beautiful feeling -- has never left me. I have had that feeling 24 hours a day ever since. Every day Joseph appeared to heal a little more. He was in a coma for approximately nine days before he came out of it. He opened his eyes and looked at his mother - it was a beautiful gaze of a son looking at his mother - then went back to sleep. He woke up fully after 3 days and started getting better. In fact, he did well enough to be transported to Houston by air ambulance. We left the hospital on the 20th in the middle of a storm that just developed out of nowhere. We were almost not able to leave Denver because the weather was so bad. On the day of the departure it started to snow around 9 a.m. We were scheduled to depart at 2 p.m. That afternoon a blizzard developed. The ambulance carrying Joseph finally departed from the hospital at 1 p.m. As we traveled on the expressway in our small rental car the snow was really coming down. Roads were being closed however, the ambulance was able to get to the airport. When we arrived at the airport at 1:40 p.m. the snow in the parking area was knee deep and the wind was blowing at about 25 mph. When we got to the hospital's private parking area there was no one there. We made our way through the lobby to a waiting ambulance were we sat and watched as the snow continued to cover over the runways. A dispatcher came on the air and said no one had arrived to departed in three hours because of the snow. About 3 p.m. the pilot of the jet called the dispatcher and told him he was about 20 minutes away from the airport. Again the dispatcher came on the radio and informed us the tower doubted the pilot would be able to land. We continued to wait. Unseen by any of us the plane had landed miraculously in the snow. The first time we saw it the plane was taxing towards us. I knew at that moment God had a hand in the matter. Joseph was transferred to the plane and my wife and I boarded as well. The air ambulance took off just after snowplow had cleared a runway. We took off into the dark, stormy skies and continued to climb. After a few minutes we broke through the darkness of the storm and into the sunlight. The sun came through the window and hit Joseph on the face. It was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen. I knew then that the hand of God was again touching us-guiding us through the storm. Joseph was taken to the Texas Institute of Rehabilitation and Research in Houston where he went through a rehabilitation program for brain-injured patients. He gradually started to heal and get better. It was at the hospital in Houston that I gradually realized the Lord had blessed me. I was not able to understand it at first. It took me a while to realize that I had the gift - a special gift-to touch and heal people. It was these events that helped God to guide me here - to My Father's House. |
|
|||||||||||