This was on the LDS Living News & Event Ad today that I get six days a week. I'm not sure if I remember this happening or not. I think I do but was not aware that she made a full recovery. It really is miraculous! She is truely blessed.


Feb 10, 2006 12:23 am US/Mountain
The Miraculous Survival Story Of Michelle Funk

Do you believe in miracles? You might after this story. Shauna Lake introduces us to a young woman who beat all the odds, and then some.In 1986 a little girl named Michelle Funk was on the hearts and minds of thousands of Utahns. Many of you were praying for her survival after she was submerged in water for more than an hour. She shocked everyone and beat the odds.We found Michelle Funk, 20 years later, embracing the life that she almost lost.“Its just amazing that I’m here today,” says Michelle. Amazing, because when Michelle was 2-years-old something devastating – and miraculous – happened."We were out having a picnic and me and my older brother, who was 4 at the time – I was 2 ½ – we went across the street to throw rocks into the steam. I was a clumsy two-year-old. I fell into the stream,” Michelle recounts. She was carried downstream, swept through a culvert and trapped under the frigid water for a terrifying one hour and six minutes. “I was clinically dead. They didn't think I would ever survive when they pulled me out. I was an ice cube. I was blue," says Michelle. As rescuers and television viewers looked at that little limp body, it seemed almost impossible that someone so small could survive that kind of trauma."Everyone just said ‘She won't survive, she won't survive,’ and my mother knew differently being as faithful as she is,” a tearful Michelle told Shauna Lake. Right after the accident, Michelle’s mother, Pam Funk didn't just believe Michelle would survive; she had faith she would thrive."The Lord wouldn't have brought her this far to be whole again and complete and I think she will. I think she will,” Pam told 2News in1986. An hour after being rescued Michelle was breathing again – her blood warmed by a machine used during heart surgeries."The only thing I remember is waking up and my father sticking his tongue out at me and it took me a while, but I was able to stick my tongue back out at him. I guess at that point they knew I was going to be ok," says Michelle. It was a 6-month recovery process. During that time the Funk family, strong in their LDS faith, spread the word that little Michelle needed prayers.“People prayed for me, and they used their faith in my behalf,” says Michelle. “News coverage had gone and word of mouth had gone forward and people prayed on my behalf that I would be ok,” says Michelle. "She’s a real fighter. She has a lot of spunk," Pam said early into Michelle’s recovery. That “spunk,” and according to Michelle, those prayers have served her well as she now serves others. Michelle, better known now as Sister Funk, is serving an LDS mission in Franklin, Massachusetts – a suburb of Boston. She feels she has a lot of work to do. “I think there is a certain obligation that I hold in my heart, that I know that I shouldn't be here and that it's a gift,” says Michelle. Michelle says that gift still touches to her very core.“When I opened up this interview and asked you the very first question, you got emotional. It seems your emotions are pretty close to the surface on this,” Shauna asked Michelle. "Its definitely not far beneath the surface. Its right there on the top of my heart – its just amazing,” Michelle replied. To this day people remember the little girl that captured their hearts and their prayers.“This woman from Utah came up to me, and she said, ‘Are you Michelle Funk?’ and she said, ‘You were that little girl we were praying for.’"A prayer that Michelle says was definitely answered.“I'm grateful that I have that opportunity and to be able to tell people and teach people that life is a huge gift,” says Michelle. “I can't believe the little lifeless girl is me. I have another chance – I have another shot."Michelle made the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest underwater submergence for surviving being under water for 66 minutes.Michelle has few months left of her LDS mission in Massachusetts until she comes home. She says she has loved living in the Northeastern U.S. so much she wants to return and live after her mission.

Yesterday at my exercise class there was a new young woman (younger than I am but she was probably in her 40's) who visited with us after class while we sat in the hot tub for a few minutes. She mentioned that she had been in an automobile accident a few years ago. A drunk driver, going 60 mph hit her was she was walking across the street and threw her 80 feet away from the impact. She needed a trache to help her breath right there at the scene. She was expected to live. She had epilepsy, memory loss and paralysis of her legs after she "recovered". She said that of those three things she no longer has the paralysis nor the epilepsy but she probably will never remember "my first life." I said, "You are lucky to even be here. She said I'm not lucky, I'm blessed." I later told her that it so refreshing to have her say she was blessed. And she replied that she owed it all to God and she would profess God every chance she got and whenever she could. At first I wondered if she were LDS but I felt like she wasn't when I was later talking to her. She witnessed unto Christ characteristic of Born again Christians do. I think the Spirit guided me there too. Anyway, I was very glad to make her acquaintance and hear her witness that she was very blessed of God. Too many people don't or won't acknowledge that. I know I am. I'm not sure what or who or where I would be if I didn't have my faith in my Heavenly Father and know of His love for me and mine. I know my children wouldn't be the upstanding great people they are without the help and influence of the gospel in my and their lives. I am so thankful to be alive at this time in the history of mankind.