Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Two years ago, Blake Collie told his mother he had a headache. The story of his miracle healing is about to be featured in an episode of “The 700 Club.”

“That headache quickly escalated to him clutching his head in his hands, vomiting, and crying that he was going to die,” Washington resident Caroline Collie said this week. An aneurysm was discovered after Blake was air-lifted to Greenville, where doctors stopped the brain bleed. Blake was put into a medical coma to allow blood to drain and give his brain time to recover from significant swelling. “He was ‘gone’ for about 18 days,” his mother said.

Lots of action was also occurring beyond the ICU, where Blake’s parents took bedside shifts day and night. Friends cared for their three other children, and a 24-hour worldwide prayer vigil was organized. They needed those prayers. A follow-up MRI interpretation predicted that Blake might never walk or speak again, and could become blind.

“We call it our dark night of the soul. That was the one time we didn’t share an update,” Caroline said of their daily posts about Blake. “We felt like we needed to let our families know the bad news.” But those prayers continued, including many from Blake’s nurses.

“That morning I told God ‘these people are so faithful to you. Please let them have a miracle. They need a sign, even just a thumbs-up,” said nurse practitioner Dynita Haislip. When she arrived, neurosurgeon Richard Dalyai was already in Blake’s room, telling his parents that, contrary to the MRI report, he saw “no reason why Blake cant make a full recovery.” Then he paused the medicine that kept Blake in that coma, asked him to “wake up and give us a thumbs up” – and he did.

“I let out a scream and dropped to my knees,” Haislip said, “Nobody knew what I had prayed and it was unfolding right in front of my face!” Night nurse Kara Grubbs agreed that it was “amazing” to hear a heart-crushing opinion one night, then witness the unimaginable the next morning. “They didn’t know minute by minute if Blake was going to make it. Now they’re sharing the amazing story of their miracle son.”

Blake’s dad agrees. “It was quite an experience to go through. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. But God has redeemed it and is using it for good.”

The television feature is scheduled for this Friday’s 9 a.m. and 11 p.m. airings of The 700 Club, on the Christian Broadcast Network and via the Freeform Channel.