On a peaceful Sunday morning, Ryan Finley stirred awake, stretching his arms wide as he gently nudged his wife, Jill Finley, hoping to rouse her from sleep. It was just another ordinary day—or so he thought.
Ryan Finley later reflected, “Waking Jill up that morning felt like a miracle because I never do that on a Saturday.” But when he gently called out to her, there was no response. A sudden wave of panic rushed over him—something was terribly wrong.
Without hesitation, Ryan dialed emergency services and began performing CPR, desperate to save his wife’s life. When the paramedics arrived, they rushed Jill to the hospital while Ryan followed anxiously behind in his car.
At the hospital, doctors quickly diagnosed Jill with cardiac arrest. She underwent an emergency procedure to stabilize her condition, while Ryan waited nervously in the emergency room, hoping for good news.
When the doctors came out to update Ryan on Jill’s condition, their final words shook him to the core: “Pray for your wife.” Ryan understood immediately—when medical professionals urge you to pray, it means the situation is critical. “Hearing that from a doctor felt like the most serious moment of my life,” he later shared.
Shortly after, Ryan was informed that Jill had slipped into a coma.
The reality was crushing—just days earlier, his healthy, vibrant 31-year-old wife was full of life, and now she was fighting for survival.
Over the next two weeks, Jill remained unconscious, but the family and friends never stopped visiting, offering prayers and hope for her recovery. One day, Jill’s cousin arrived carrying a Bible and spent an hour reading scripture aloud by her bedside.
Before leaving, he handed the Bible to Ryan, encouraging him to read from it whenever he needed strength.
From that moment, Ryan made it a daily routine to read hopeful passages aloud to Jill, holding on tightly to the belief that she would wake up and return to them soon.
After 11 long and agonizing days at the hospital, Ryan finally returned home to grapple with an unimaginable decision. The doctors had given him a grim prognosis—there was no sign of improvement, and they recommended considering the difficult choice to remove Jill from life support.
Alone with his thoughts, Ryan wrestled with the heart-wrenching question: should he hold onto hope and wait for a miracle, or accept the doctors’ advice and let Jill go? The weight of this decision was almost unbearable, as he balanced love, faith, and the reality in front of him.
Despite the medical experts’ certainty, Ryan’s faith in his wife’s strength and the power of hope kept him holding on for one more day.
Ryan was fully aware that once Jill was taken off life support, her passing would likely be imminent. After much soul-searching, on the 14th day, he made the agonizing decision to honor the doctors’ advice and let her go.
However, about five hours after the life support was removed, something incredible happened—Jill began to mumble and move. Though Ryan was devastated to witness her struggle, he stepped out of the room to give her privacy during those final moments.
He remembers the surreal experience vividly: “The nurse came out and said, ‘I think you need to come in, she’s talking.’” Those simple words sparked a glimmer of hope amid the heartbreak.
Ryan walked into the hospital room expecting to say his final goodbyes, preparing himself for Jill’s passing into the spiritual realm. But what happened next left him utterly stunned. “I walked in, and Jill was talking. The first thing she said was, ‘Get me out of here. I want to go home,’” he recalled in disbelief.
At first, Ryan thought she was just mumbling incoherently. But when he asked her simple questions—like the names of their pets and even some mental math problems—Jill responded clearly and correctly, surprising him further.
She even requested to go to her favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner, signaling that she wasn’t ready to leave this world behind. In that moment, Ryan realized Jill was not crossing over; she was coming back to life and to him.
When asked what he believed brought Jill back, Ryan didn’t hesitate. “God. Divine intervention. I honestly feel that way,” he said.
Of course, Jill’s recovery was gradual. She needed to relearn basic tasks like brushing her teeth and tying shoelaces due to temporary loss of some motor skills. But having been given a second chance by what they believed was a miracle, the couple made a vow to always stay close, especially in life’s hardest moments.
Jill even supports Ryan’s decision to take her off life support, explaining she wouldn’t want to live as a “vegetable.”
Ryan shared a touching reflection on their bond: “There isn’t a night that goes by when I don’t wake up and kick her gently. If she kicks me back, I know we’re okay.”
