WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.679 --> 00:00:04.280 I felt a horrible blow to my neck. 2 00:00:04.759 --> 00:00:07.320 It felt like someone had taken a nice ball bat 3 00:00:07.360 --> 00:00:09.720 and just slammed it into my neck. 4 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:13.439 Time came to a halt as she stood frozen in disbelief, 5 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:17.920 and then adrenaline crashed through Donna's body and mind. She 6 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:20.879 gripped the arrow tightly with both hands and ran to 7 00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:21.800 find her husband. 8 00:00:22.600 --> 00:00:25.079 I reacted just like a dar does when they're shot. 9 00:00:25.800 --> 00:00:28.839 They stop and then I run, And that's what I did. 10 00:00:29.120 --> 00:00:31.039 I stopped and ran. 11 00:00:31.839 --> 00:00:35.640 Ed responded quickly to his wife's screens, but nothing could 12 00:00:35.679 --> 00:00:38.799 have prepared him for the sight of an arrow protruding 13 00:00:38.840 --> 00:00:48.000 from his wife's neck. This is the Miracle Files. I'm 14 00:00:48.039 --> 00:00:49.479 Emily Jones. 15 00:00:49.159 --> 00:00:50.399 And I'm Holly Worthington. 16 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:54.560 We're two sisters who love a captivating true story, but 17 00:00:54.600 --> 00:00:56.719 we're also seeking more light in our lives. 18 00:00:57.159 --> 00:01:00.000 So we're in a mission to find and share unforget 19 00:01:00.600 --> 00:01:05.120 uplifting stories of God's miracles. We hope you'll join us 20 00:01:05.159 --> 00:01:05.959 on this journey. 21 00:01:08.599 --> 00:01:11.719 Welcome back to the Miracle Files. We have such a 22 00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:13.480 crazy story for you today. 23 00:01:13.560 --> 00:01:16.920 Yeah yeah. This one was submitted to us actually by 24 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:22.040 our sister Julie Hi. A couple of years ago. Yes, Hi, Julie, 25 00:01:22.480 --> 00:01:25.840 and she actually read about this story in the Reader's 26 00:01:25.840 --> 00:01:29.480 Digest about a woman named Donna. When we read Donna's story, 27 00:01:29.480 --> 00:01:31.159 we're like, we have to share this. 28 00:01:31.640 --> 00:01:34.519 Yeah, But the only problem was we couldn't find Donna. 29 00:01:34.799 --> 00:01:37.400 I know, I know. We searched and searched, and we 30 00:01:37.400 --> 00:01:40.400 could not find Donna. And so finally we just decided 31 00:01:40.439 --> 00:01:43.159 to share her story in a short social media reel. 32 00:01:44.040 --> 00:01:47.920 And then one day, unexpectedly, Donna happened to see this reel, 33 00:01:48.239 --> 00:01:49.959 and then she reached out to us and she said 34 00:01:49.959 --> 00:01:51.879 that she would be willing to come on our podcast 35 00:01:52.519 --> 00:01:54.840 and share the full story in her own words. 36 00:01:55.280 --> 00:01:58.560 Yes, and we were so excited. So I heard her 37 00:01:58.599 --> 00:02:03.159 full story, Jah literally dropped like I was like, no way, 38 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:04.200 this is not real. 39 00:02:04.599 --> 00:02:06.959 It's an amazing story and we're not going to make 40 00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:09.159 you wait much longer. But before we begin, we just 41 00:02:09.199 --> 00:02:11.800 want to remind everyone that if you haven't already subscribed 42 00:02:11.800 --> 00:02:14.800 to our podcast, please make sure you do so, and 43 00:02:14.840 --> 00:02:17.039 if you would be so kind, please leave us a review. 44 00:02:17.159 --> 00:02:19.240 They help our podcast so much. 45 00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:20.000 They do. 46 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:22.120 All right, let's get to the story. 47 00:02:22.479 --> 00:02:28.919 Okay, let's go. Donna Barber and her husband Ed raised 48 00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:32.520 their family in Sunray, Texas. It was the kind of 49 00:02:32.599 --> 00:02:36.919 town where everybody knew everybody where. Children were bicycles down 50 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:40.599 quiet streets until the porch lights came on, and we're 51 00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:44.599 a teacher never really stops being a teacher. In fact, 52 00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:48.719 former students would still call Donna missus Barber for years 53 00:02:48.919 --> 00:02:52.719 after leaving her second grade classroom. The town only had 54 00:02:52.719 --> 00:02:55.240 a few restaurants and a dollar General, but it had 55 00:02:55.319 --> 00:03:00.319 something more important community. By the spring of Donna's sixty 56 00:03:00.439 --> 00:03:04.439 third year, as retirement approached, Donna was beginning to realize 57 00:03:04.759 --> 00:03:07.360 just how much of her life had been poured into 58 00:03:07.400 --> 00:03:08.159 that little town. 59 00:03:09.319 --> 00:03:12.360 I was in the last month of school, and I 60 00:03:12.479 --> 00:03:13.560 was retiring at. 61 00:03:13.400 --> 00:03:14.199 The end of the year. 62 00:03:14.840 --> 00:03:17.599 And I came home from school, and it was a 63 00:03:17.680 --> 00:03:21.719 typical guy with little children, and I was tired, and 64 00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:24.840 I went out to my backyard to just as some 65 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:29.039 gardening and relax. That's my happy place in the spring. 66 00:03:29.199 --> 00:03:32.520 I love planning the flowers and getting the yard going. 67 00:03:32.599 --> 00:03:34.280 So I was out there working. 68 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:37.719 As the afternoon wore on. Donna left her garden and 69 00:03:37.800 --> 00:03:40.879 walked over to the grill to light the charcoal. It 70 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:44.800 was almost supper time. She stood waiting under her covered 71 00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:48.280 patio for a moment while the grill heated, There was 72 00:03:48.319 --> 00:03:53.319 no sense that anything could possibly go wrong. Somewhere nearby, 73 00:03:53.639 --> 00:03:57.879 children played outside, dogs barked in the distance, and a 74 00:03:57.960 --> 00:04:01.840 warm breeze stirred the hanging flower baskets on Donna's patio 75 00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:06.560 as she crossed beneath them, thinking about dinner and absolutely 76 00:04:06.719 --> 00:04:12.039 nothing else. Behind the houses that bordered her backyard, hidden 77 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:15.319 from Donna's view, one of her former students stood in 78 00:04:15.400 --> 00:04:22.000 his backyard, practicing his aim with a compound bow. He 79 00:04:22.120 --> 00:04:24.519 was a good kid from a family Donna knew well. 80 00:04:25.160 --> 00:04:28.199 His mother taught alongside Donna at the school, and like 81 00:04:28.319 --> 00:04:32.959 many West Texas teens, he liked to hunt. Today he 82 00:04:33.120 --> 00:04:37.040 was practicing his aim. He placed a practice arrow in 83 00:04:37.079 --> 00:04:41.759 his bow and stretched the string back smoothly. He pointed 84 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:45.560 the arrow at a makeshift target in his backyard. There 85 00:04:45.639 --> 00:04:50.079 was no recklessness in it, no malice. The young man 86 00:04:50.199 --> 00:04:54.759 released the arrow. At first, everything appeared to follow the 87 00:04:54.800 --> 00:04:58.319 path it should have. The arrow flew toward its target 88 00:04:58.480 --> 00:05:01.079 with the speed and force compoun on bows are designed 89 00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:05.480 to produce. But the arrow missed its intended target and 90 00:05:05.519 --> 00:05:10.079 sailed just over it. Striking the most innocuous of things. 91 00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:14.279 And the arrow went over the target, and it hit 92 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:18.399 a children's slide, a little plastic children's slide, and rick 93 00:05:18.439 --> 00:05:20.199 ascheid turned completely around. 94 00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:24.839 The arrow initially traveled north, but once it hit the slide, 95 00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:29.399 it reversed direction and headed south, launching backward through a 96 00:05:29.399 --> 00:05:33.279 maze of obstacles no one could ever have intentionally navigated. 97 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:38.399 And it went over three fences and tall shrubs, and 98 00:05:38.519 --> 00:05:42.560 the branches of an outree and a twenty two hanging baskets. 99 00:05:43.360 --> 00:05:48.600 Yes, the hanging baskets on Donna's porch. Donna never saw 100 00:05:48.639 --> 00:05:52.800 it coming. One second she was casually crossing the patio, 101 00:05:53.399 --> 00:05:57.560 and the next something struck her neck with unbelievable force. 102 00:06:03.879 --> 00:06:07.079 I felt a horrible blog to my neck. It felt 103 00:06:07.079 --> 00:06:09.639 like someone had taken a nice ball bat and just 104 00:06:10.279 --> 00:06:13.199 slammed it into my neck. And you know, my Brian 105 00:06:13.399 --> 00:06:16.000 was saying, that's not possible. There's no one here. 106 00:06:16.800 --> 00:06:21.079 Donna's eyes searched her yard, confused, Her hand went straight 107 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:21.720 to her neck. 108 00:06:22.600 --> 00:06:25.000 I had thought of all kinds of things, but I 109 00:06:25.079 --> 00:06:27.720 had not thought of what it was. It was an arrow, 110 00:06:28.600 --> 00:06:31.079 and I was a nice and shocked and stunned and 111 00:06:32.160 --> 00:06:33.079 just scared. 112 00:06:33.959 --> 00:06:37.000 Time came to a halt as she stood frozen in disbelief, 113 00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:41.079 and then adrenaline crashed through Donna's body in. 114 00:06:41.079 --> 00:06:44.600 Mind, I reacted just like a dar does when they're shot. 115 00:06:45.319 --> 00:06:48.360 They stop and then they run. And that's what I did. 116 00:06:48.639 --> 00:06:50.319 I stopped and ran. 117 00:06:51.279 --> 00:06:54.480 Donna had always heard that if something impaled the body, 118 00:06:54.519 --> 00:06:57.600 pulling it out could make the bleeding worse, and even 119 00:06:57.600 --> 00:07:01.800 through the shock, that thought surfaced clearly enough to guide her, 120 00:07:02.480 --> 00:07:05.079 so instead of trying to remove it, she gripped the 121 00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:08.439 arrow tightly with both hands and ran to find her husband. 122 00:07:09.240 --> 00:07:11.000 And I don't know how I got in the house 123 00:07:11.079 --> 00:07:15.240 without bending the arrow. I grabbed the arrow and I 124 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:18.439 ran in the house, yelling for my husband, and he 125 00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:20.480 was in the back of the house talking on the 126 00:07:20.480 --> 00:07:23.839 Thhe to our daughter, Keyla, and he hired me and 127 00:07:24.279 --> 00:07:28.480 came running and grabbed me by the shoulders because I 128 00:07:28.839 --> 00:07:29.680 was just frantic. 129 00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:30.680 I was just running. 130 00:07:31.480 --> 00:07:35.240 Ed responded quickly to his wife's screens, but nothing could 131 00:07:35.279 --> 00:07:38.439 have prepared him for the sight of an arrow protruding 132 00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:39.639 from his wife's. 133 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:43.120 Neck, and he grabbed me by the shoulders and telp 134 00:07:43.160 --> 00:07:45.399 me to lie down and I did, and he went 135 00:07:45.480 --> 00:07:48.519 and called nine one one. I remember him saying, we 136 00:07:48.560 --> 00:07:51.240 need an ambulance and gave the adress and gave his 137 00:07:51.480 --> 00:07:55.000 name and everything, and said, my wife's been shot with 138 00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:55.480 an arrow. 139 00:07:56.519 --> 00:08:01.240 Hearing those words was so surreal. Shot by an arrow. 140 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:05.319 Donna tried to grasp what was happening to her. Could 141 00:08:05.399 --> 00:08:08.839 these be the last seconds of her life? And in 142 00:08:08.879 --> 00:08:12.759 that moment, she knew she needed strength and help beyond 143 00:08:12.839 --> 00:08:13.279 her own. 144 00:08:14.199 --> 00:08:18.040 As soon as allied, Diana started crying, and I just 145 00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:21.600 felt pace. It just was a perfect pace come up 146 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:24.040 or May. And I was still scared. I was still 147 00:08:24.079 --> 00:08:26.319 afraid of what this day. I didn't know if I 148 00:08:26.360 --> 00:08:30.000 could survive, but I felt pace with it. 149 00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:33.639 Ed sat down on the floor next to Donna, trying 150 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:36.200 to comfort her as they waited for help to arrive. 151 00:08:38.440 --> 00:08:40.799 And he was very good with May. He was very 152 00:08:40.840 --> 00:08:43.840 calm and kept me calm. 153 00:08:43.960 --> 00:08:47.960 In Sunray, there were no paramedics stationed nearby. The town 154 00:08:48.039 --> 00:08:53.320 relied on volunteer EMTs and firefighters, neighbors who knew Donna personally, 155 00:08:54.080 --> 00:08:57.279 many of whom had either sat in Donna's classroom years 156 00:08:57.320 --> 00:09:01.519 earlier or had children who had been Donna students. The 157 00:09:01.639 --> 00:09:05.240 volunteers hurried to gather their equipment and head to Missus 158 00:09:05.240 --> 00:09:10.919 Barber's home. Meanwhile, someone else appeared at Ed and Donna's 159 00:09:10.960 --> 00:09:14.000 front door. It was the young man who had shot 160 00:09:14.039 --> 00:09:17.799 the arrow. He had heard Missus Barber's scream and was 161 00:09:17.919 --> 00:09:20.559 convinced in that instant that he had killed her. 162 00:09:21.399 --> 00:09:26.360 And he stood at the door, and he was very upset, 163 00:09:26.799 --> 00:09:29.480 and he just kept saying, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, 164 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:32.320 and I didn't say anything. 165 00:09:33.279 --> 00:09:36.480 Donna wanted to offer him reassurance, but the arrow made 166 00:09:36.519 --> 00:09:40.240 it impossible. Every attempt to speak caused it to shift 167 00:09:40.279 --> 00:09:43.360 against her larynx, making it too painful to get a 168 00:09:43.399 --> 00:09:46.960 word out. Though Ed could see the young man was distraught, 169 00:09:47.240 --> 00:09:50.919 his attention remained fixed on helping Donna. He quickly sent 170 00:09:50.960 --> 00:09:54.320 the boy home to get his mother. As soon as 171 00:09:54.360 --> 00:09:58.440 the empts arrived. They worked swiftly and calmly, disguising the 172 00:09:58.519 --> 00:10:03.759 alarm they truly felt seeing Missus Barbara in this state. Outside. 173 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:08.000 Word had spread through Sunray. Some people heard the emergency 174 00:10:08.039 --> 00:10:12.399 call over police scanners. Others noticed the flashing lights outside 175 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:16.080 the Barber's house. By the time Donna was carried from 176 00:10:16.120 --> 00:10:19.000 the house. Her driveway and yard had been filled with 177 00:10:19.120 --> 00:10:25.080 worried friends, former students, church members, and neighbors desperate for updates, 178 00:10:25.440 --> 00:10:30.120 offering countless prayers for this beloved neighbor and teacher. And 179 00:10:30.200 --> 00:10:32.960 among the familiar faces in the crowd were some of 180 00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:34.759 her current second grade students. 181 00:10:35.480 --> 00:10:38.120 And I putting in the ambulance, and I looked around, 182 00:10:38.120 --> 00:10:40.480 and there were even some of my children that I 183 00:10:40.600 --> 00:10:44.480 taught that were out there, and I thought, how awful 184 00:10:44.559 --> 00:10:46.919 for them to say that. 185 00:10:46.919 --> 00:10:50.240 That image stayed with Donna, even in the middle of 186 00:10:50.279 --> 00:10:54.240 her own fear. Seeing those children standing there, frightened for 187 00:10:54.320 --> 00:11:10.159 their teacher broke her heart. The ambulance doors closed thirty 188 00:11:10.200 --> 00:11:12.919 minutes after being shot in the neck by a stray arrow. 189 00:11:13.279 --> 00:11:16.200 The ambulance took Donna to the airport, where she was 190 00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:20.240 loaded into a helicopter. As the helicopter rotor began to 191 00:11:20.279 --> 00:11:25.440 turn her Nerve's sword, but then another feeling quieted her fears. 192 00:11:25.960 --> 00:11:28.679 When I left it off, I could feel those prayers. 193 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:31.159 I remembered the people at my house, and there were 194 00:11:31.159 --> 00:11:34.360 a lot of people at the airport, and I didn't 195 00:11:34.360 --> 00:11:36.559 even need to be praying because I'd got it. 196 00:11:36.679 --> 00:11:38.960 You know, that got my back. They're pryingna. 197 00:11:39.960 --> 00:11:43.159 While Donna was being transported to the hospital in Amarillo, 198 00:11:43.639 --> 00:11:46.559 her daughter Kila and son Kyle rushed to be by 199 00:11:46.559 --> 00:11:51.360 her side. Hundreds of miles away in Dallas, her youngest son, Mitch, 200 00:11:51.480 --> 00:11:55.000 received a frantic phone call from his sister Kila. She 201 00:11:55.159 --> 00:11:57.879 managed only to tell him their mother had been shot 202 00:11:57.879 --> 00:12:01.080 with an arrow before the call. Suddenly, as they drove 203 00:12:01.080 --> 00:12:05.759 through a dead zone, Mitch sat there, stunned, replaying the 204 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:09.159 words in his mind because they sounded too bizarre to 205 00:12:09.200 --> 00:12:15.080 be real. An arrow, surely he had misunderstood, but he hadn't. 206 00:12:15.879 --> 00:12:19.279 As details slowly reached him, Mitch scrambled to book the 207 00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:23.399 last available flight to Amarillo. He rushed to the airport, 208 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:27.440 unsure if he would even make it. Southwest employees stayed 209 00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:30.480 on the phone with him while he raced toward love Field, 210 00:12:30.919 --> 00:12:34.120 assuring him they would hold the plane as long as possible. 211 00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:38.720 He ran through security until agents stopped him for additional screening. 212 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:43.159 Panicked and desperate, Mitch blurted out the truth that his 213 00:12:43.320 --> 00:12:46.840 mom had been shot by an arrow. The agent stared 214 00:12:46.840 --> 00:12:49.759 at him for a moment before finally waving him through. 215 00:12:50.919 --> 00:12:54.840 When Mitch boarded the aircraft. Every passenger was already seated 216 00:12:54.879 --> 00:12:59.039 and waiting for departure. He hurried to his seat, overwhelmed 217 00:12:59.039 --> 00:13:04.600 with fear, trying unsuccessfully to steady himself. A man seated 218 00:13:04.600 --> 00:13:08.919 nearby noticed immediately that something was terribly wrong and quietly 219 00:13:08.960 --> 00:13:12.360 asked what had happened. When Mitch explained where he was 220 00:13:12.399 --> 00:13:16.720 going and why, the stranger simply said, let's pray. 221 00:13:18.120 --> 00:13:20.879 So as the plane was fulling alive from the terminal, 222 00:13:21.480 --> 00:13:24.320 thy were prying, and I displayed with almah heart that 223 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:25.120 God sent. 224 00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:28.399 That man on that plot for Mitch. He needed somebody 225 00:13:28.480 --> 00:13:28.840 right there. 226 00:13:30.039 --> 00:13:33.799 Back in Amarillo, Donna lay in a hospital bed, surrounded 227 00:13:33.840 --> 00:13:38.559 by medical professionals trying desperately to save her life. The 228 00:13:38.600 --> 00:13:42.480 trauma doctors rushed Donna into scans to determine exactly where 229 00:13:42.480 --> 00:13:46.799 the arrow had traveled. They stared at the images, examining 230 00:13:46.799 --> 00:13:50.399 what had to be a critical injury, but what they 231 00:13:50.440 --> 00:13:55.120 discovered stunned everyone. 232 00:13:55.279 --> 00:13:59.080 The arrow had gone between the carotid artery and the 233 00:13:59.159 --> 00:14:03.360 juggler thye and the sky said it went between was 234 00:14:03.399 --> 00:14:06.320 smaller than the diameter of the arrow. The raw just 235 00:14:06.399 --> 00:14:10.039 pushed the vines aside and slipped trot again and if 236 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:12.120 it had nicked either one, I would have bled to 237 00:14:12.159 --> 00:14:16.120 death in just minutes. That it just stopped at Malaya next, 238 00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:17.320 it didn't go all the way through. 239 00:14:18.840 --> 00:14:23.120 Doctors couldn't believe their eyes. Medical staff tried explaining to 240 00:14:23.159 --> 00:14:26.279 Donna how lucky she was, how the trajectory of the 241 00:14:26.399 --> 00:14:30.600 arrow was virtually impossible, but she corrected them, not. 242 00:14:30.679 --> 00:14:32.519 Lucky, blessed. 243 00:14:34.440 --> 00:14:38.000 As incredible as the trajectory of the arrow was, Donna's 244 00:14:38.039 --> 00:14:41.480 journey was far from over. She still needed a very 245 00:14:41.559 --> 00:14:45.919 dangerous surgery to remove the arrow. The surgeon available that 246 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:49.519 day was not even from Amarillo. He was a specialist 247 00:14:49.519 --> 00:14:53.399 from Houston temporarily filling in at the hospital, and according 248 00:14:53.480 --> 00:14:56.200 to members of the medical team, he was also only 249 00:14:56.279 --> 00:14:59.399 one of a handful of surgeons who possessed the skills 250 00:14:59.480 --> 00:15:06.840 necessary to perform the delicate operation without causing catastrophic damage. 251 00:15:06.960 --> 00:15:10.799 By the following morning, the arrow was successfully removed, and 252 00:15:10.840 --> 00:15:14.519 Donna awoke from surgery surrounded by her husband and children. 253 00:15:15.320 --> 00:15:19.639 It was a moment of relief and celebration. But then 254 00:15:19.679 --> 00:15:22.919 a doctor entered Donna's hospital room and said he needed 255 00:15:22.919 --> 00:15:28.120 to deliver some news. The words that came out of 256 00:15:28.159 --> 00:15:30.679 his mouth made Donna feel like she'd been hit with 257 00:15:30.759 --> 00:15:32.480 an arrow all over again. 258 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:36.759 He said, I need to tell you that the cat 259 00:15:36.919 --> 00:15:41.480 scan shouted that you have a brine timor, and I 260 00:15:41.679 --> 00:15:44.120 just remember going sort of nan. 261 00:15:45.399 --> 00:15:48.759 Everyone in the room went silent, once again, trying to 262 00:15:48.840 --> 00:15:53.000 process the reality of their situation. The doctor went on 263 00:15:53.080 --> 00:15:57.039 to explain that though the tumor appeared benign, its location 264 00:15:57.360 --> 00:15:59.399 was extremely dangerous. 265 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:02.679 With that to cross the midline of my prime and 266 00:16:02.720 --> 00:16:04.919 I would have had a massive strout just with them 267 00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:06.120 a short time. 268 00:16:07.279 --> 00:16:12.320 The tumor, unseen unknown, was only days, two weeks away 269 00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:17.240 from ending Donna's life. For Donna, her family, and the 270 00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:22.559 doctor's the realization was staggering. Without the arrow, no one 271 00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:26.399 would have found the tumor in time. And suddenly what 272 00:16:26.559 --> 00:16:30.600 had felt like a blow now became clear as divine intervention. 273 00:16:31.639 --> 00:16:34.960 The very thing that should have killed her had instead 274 00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:39.879 uncovered a life threatening condition hidden silently inside her body. 275 00:16:41.879 --> 00:16:46.159 A neurosurgeon soon confirmed how serious the situation was. They 276 00:16:46.159 --> 00:16:50.360 would need to operate immediately. Donna tried persuading him to 277 00:16:50.399 --> 00:16:52.960 wait until the school year ended because she didn't want 278 00:16:52.960 --> 00:16:57.120 to miss her retirement celebration, but he refused. The tumor 279 00:16:57.279 --> 00:17:01.679 could not wait, so only day after surviving an arrow 280 00:17:01.720 --> 00:17:07.319 through her neck, Donna underwent brain surgery once again. Hundreds 281 00:17:07.319 --> 00:17:10.599 of prayers were offered on her behalf, and once again 282 00:17:11.000 --> 00:17:15.920 Donna survived. So right about now you're probably thinking this 283 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:19.880 story is over. Donna's tragic accident led to a discovery 284 00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:24.279 that saved her life, an incredible miracle. But Donna's story 285 00:17:24.359 --> 00:17:28.119 doesn't end there. Over the next few years, something else 286 00:17:28.200 --> 00:17:29.240 began to unfold. 287 00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:32.240 They tell me that I needed to come in once 288 00:17:32.279 --> 00:17:34.720 a year and I would do a cat scan and 289 00:17:34.759 --> 00:17:37.160 make sure the timor wasn't going to come back. 290 00:17:37.960 --> 00:17:40.319 So the first couple of years I. 291 00:17:40.240 --> 00:17:42.920 Went in, it was fine. And the third year that 292 00:17:43.119 --> 00:17:45.960 called me and I said we needed to come in, 293 00:17:46.319 --> 00:17:48.759 and of course we knew that wasn't good. 294 00:17:49.599 --> 00:17:52.880 The doctor entered the room once again with a concerned 295 00:17:52.920 --> 00:18:04.039 look on his face. The doctor entered the room, once 296 00:18:04.119 --> 00:18:07.799 again with a concerned look on his face. Donna braced 297 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:12.079 herself for more bad news. Had her tumor returned and. 298 00:18:12.039 --> 00:18:14.599 I said, it's Donna brin timor bit to have a 299 00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:16.519 brin aneurysm that we caught. 300 00:18:17.480 --> 00:18:22.039 The surgeon explained that the aneurysm appeared dangerously close to rupturing, 301 00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:26.039 and if it did, she would die. The next few 302 00:18:26.039 --> 00:18:29.759 weeks were a whirlwind. The surgical team got Donna into surgery, 303 00:18:30.160 --> 00:18:33.680 and once again, through medical prowess and by the power 304 00:18:33.759 --> 00:18:38.720 and mercy of God, Donna survived. It was beyond unbelievable. 305 00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:43.960 Donna's arrow hadn't saved her life just once, but twice. 306 00:18:44.119 --> 00:18:47.880 By this point, God had made it abundantly clear none 307 00:18:47.880 --> 00:18:52.319 of Donna's story could be dismissed as coincidence. As the 308 00:18:52.400 --> 00:18:56.039 years went by, Donna resisted speaking publicly about what had 309 00:18:56.039 --> 00:18:59.200 happened to her because she hated standing in front of groups, 310 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:02.640 and eventually she agreed to share the story at a 311 00:19:02.720 --> 00:19:08.319 church women's gathering, and afterward invitations kept coming. Every audience 312 00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:13.359 seemed to react differently. Some people cried, some sat speechless. 313 00:19:13.880 --> 00:19:17.119 Others approached her afterward, wanting to tell stories of their 314 00:19:17.160 --> 00:19:21.680 own suffering, grief, fear, or moments when they too had 315 00:19:21.720 --> 00:19:26.480 wondered whether God still saw them. Donna understood those feelings deeply, 316 00:19:27.200 --> 00:19:30.160 because before the arrow, she had always believed in God, 317 00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:33.839 but still sometimes felt small in the vastness of the world. 318 00:19:34.400 --> 00:19:37.119 She was just a second grade teacher in a tiny 319 00:19:37.160 --> 00:19:43.200 Texas town, one ordinary person among billions. But after surviving 320 00:19:43.240 --> 00:19:47.480 the impossible, she no longer believed anyone was invisible to God. 321 00:19:48.640 --> 00:19:51.880 Even the young man who fired the arrow remained woven 322 00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:55.680 into the miracle. At the time of Donna's first surgery, 323 00:19:56.079 --> 00:20:00.079 he came to the hospital devastated. He brought Donna flower 324 00:20:00.200 --> 00:20:04.559 and apologized again through tears. Donna looked at him and 325 00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:07.680 told him something she hoped would transform the way he 326 00:20:07.839 --> 00:20:10.920 carried the tragedy, and. 327 00:20:10.880 --> 00:20:15.880 I said, heney, I think you saved my life. 328 00:20:16.079 --> 00:20:21.400 Fourteen years later, he still apologizes sometimes, and fourteen years later, 329 00:20:21.759 --> 00:20:25.359 Donna still tells him the same thing, He was part 330 00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:30.160 of God's plan. Today, the arrow hangs framed in Donna's home, 331 00:20:30.519 --> 00:20:35.559 beneath a plaque engraved with two simple words, amazing grace. 332 00:20:36.640 --> 00:20:39.880 Because after all these years, that is still the only 333 00:20:40.039 --> 00:20:46.119 explanation Donna, missus Barber, beloved friend, teacher and child of 334 00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:48.599 the Most High, has ever needed. 335 00:20:49.519 --> 00:20:51.920 And that's why I think that era wasn't just for me. 336 00:20:52.319 --> 00:20:55.160 I think it was for people who needed to know, Yes, 337 00:20:55.279 --> 00:20:58.960 God's still here, He's still with us every day. I 338 00:20:59.000 --> 00:21:03.519 think He's using that story to help everyone understand it. 339 00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:07.279 He's still marking and no matter how insignificant you think 340 00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:09.960 you are in a world of however many billion people 341 00:21:10.039 --> 00:21:12.400 there are, you're important to God. 342 00:21:21.680 --> 00:21:25.319 I still cannot get over this story. I keep going 343 00:21:25.400 --> 00:21:28.200 back to the thought over and over again of what 344 00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:31.640 are the odds of her first of all getting shot 345 00:21:31.680 --> 00:21:34.400 by an arrow that just barely misses her arteries, but 346 00:21:34.440 --> 00:21:38.160 then also finding a brain tumor and an aneurysm. 347 00:21:38.680 --> 00:21:42.160 It's just incredible, so miraculous. And I love the part 348 00:21:42.200 --> 00:21:45.160 where she told this young man who accidentally shot her 349 00:21:45.160 --> 00:21:47.799 in the next yes, I think you saved my life. 350 00:21:48.359 --> 00:21:48.880 He did. 351 00:21:49.519 --> 00:21:51.960 Yeah, if that arrow hadn't to hit her, her story 352 00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:53.440 would have been completely different. 353 00:21:53.839 --> 00:21:56.160 And Donna said that this story has been shared all 354 00:21:56.200 --> 00:21:59.359 over the world, and I think it just illustrates how 355 00:21:59.480 --> 00:22:01.359 God is in the details of our lives. 356 00:22:01.680 --> 00:22:04.680 Yes, And it reminds me that God is aware of 357 00:22:04.720 --> 00:22:07.920 this big picture that we're not always aware of. Because 358 00:22:07.960 --> 00:22:10.160 when I first heard the story and I was listening 359 00:22:10.240 --> 00:22:12.799 to it, and I was thinking, like, if God could 360 00:22:12.880 --> 00:22:15.400 have had the arrow just avoid those arteries, and why 361 00:22:15.440 --> 00:22:17.279 couldn't it have just missed her completely? 362 00:22:17.839 --> 00:22:17.960 Right? 363 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:20.880 And then you get to this point in the story 364 00:22:20.920 --> 00:22:22.759 where you realize that there was a there was a 365 00:22:22.799 --> 00:22:26.680 medical emergency that would have never been discovered if Donna 366 00:22:26.720 --> 00:22:28.319 hadn't been shot by the Abdaro. 367 00:22:28.640 --> 00:22:32.680 And sometimes you don't realize the why until years later. 368 00:22:33.279 --> 00:22:36.400 But Donna's faith is so strong, and she stared something 369 00:22:36.400 --> 00:22:40.839 with us that was very personal. Recently, her husband ed 370 00:22:41.119 --> 00:22:46.440 sadly passed away from congestive heart failure, and as she 371 00:22:46.519 --> 00:22:48.759 was driving him to the hospital. She was heading toward 372 00:22:48.759 --> 00:22:52.279 Amarillo because that's where all the best doctors were, and 373 00:22:52.680 --> 00:22:55.519 he passed away as they were driving there, and so 374 00:22:55.680 --> 00:22:58.079 instead of going to Amarillo, she went to a local 375 00:22:58.119 --> 00:23:01.559 hospital and here what she said happened next. 376 00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:05.000 So I took him to that hospital, and I was 377 00:23:05.079 --> 00:23:10.200 immediately surrounded by friends and my church family and friends 378 00:23:10.200 --> 00:23:12.079 and everybody was right there. If I had. 379 00:23:11.960 --> 00:23:15.720 Gotten him to Amarella, I don't think the circumstances would 380 00:23:15.720 --> 00:23:19.079 have changed, and I wouldn't have had all those people 381 00:23:19.160 --> 00:23:22.720 that I loved helping me. And I even had three 382 00:23:22.759 --> 00:23:25.640 students who worked at the hospital who came in and 383 00:23:25.720 --> 00:23:28.359 hugged me, and one of them said, can we pry 384 00:23:28.599 --> 00:23:30.880 and he said a prayer with me, And you know, 385 00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:34.119 that was Scott's mercy. It didn't end like I wanted 386 00:23:34.119 --> 00:23:38.119 it to, but that's life. We all go through that. 387 00:23:39.279 --> 00:23:43.480 Wow, this is just another example of how God can 388 00:23:43.599 --> 00:23:46.200 really see you through your hardest moments. 389 00:23:46.880 --> 00:23:49.920 And how many times do we hear people say that 390 00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:53.759 they felt peace in the middle of these terrifying or 391 00:23:53.880 --> 00:23:58.039 terrible or heartbreaking situations and you just wouldn't expect that, 392 00:23:58.599 --> 00:24:01.880 But Donna felt that piece both when she was hit 393 00:24:01.920 --> 00:24:04.920 with the arrow and later when her husband passed away. 394 00:24:05.240 --> 00:24:07.960 And yeah, I know, you'd expect them to feel like 395 00:24:08.039 --> 00:24:12.160 despair or fear, and so many people talk about this 396 00:24:12.359 --> 00:24:16.000 peace and I'm like, you're in the face of dying 397 00:24:16.200 --> 00:24:18.359 or your loved one's dying and you feel peace, and 398 00:24:18.400 --> 00:24:22.240 it's hard to comprehend, but it's such a gift. 399 00:24:22.319 --> 00:24:25.240 Such a gift, and we both experienced that ourselves. Like 400 00:24:25.599 --> 00:24:29.480 I've mentioned this before, but years ago, my husband was 401 00:24:29.559 --> 00:24:33.119