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Lake Elmo woman makes miracle recovery from "brain dead" (MN)
KARE11.com ^ | 2/13/08 | Allen Costantini

Posted on 02/13/2008 11:28:16 AM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo

How many people get a second chance at life? Rae Kupferschmidt has. In mid-January, the 65-year-old former medical secretary suffered a devasting cerebral hemorrhage, a massive bleeding on the brain.

"They thought I was dead," she says.

In fact, on January 17th, doctors declared her "brain dead." One word, "dead," is handwritten on that date on the calendar in Rae's room at United Hospital in Saint Paul. In that same hospital room where Rae fielded questions from reporters on Tuesday.

Clearly, Rae did not die, but even now, her family is not second-guessing the decision to disconnect life support. Medically, Rae was gone. Daughter Lisa Sturm is an operating room nurse at Regions Hospital in Saint Paul.

"So, I've seen many, many CT's and I never, ever saw one that looked like my mother's. Ever. It was black, meaning there was just so much blood in the head that you couldn't even see any anatomy of the brain," says Sturm.

In grief, Alan Kupferschmidt took his wife of 45 years back to Lake Elmo so she could take her last breath in her own bed. The house was soon full of friends and family who came to say goodbye. Rae says she is glad she was unconscious while everyone was mourning what they thought was her inevitable death.

"If I had seen all the tears and the gnashing of teeth and all that stuff, I'd have felt bad," she says.

As it was, the family began planning Rae's funeral, believing the end was just hours away. Then, Lisa tried to wet her mother's lips.

"When I touched her mouth with the ice cube and then a second time and then I asked if she was in there and she shook her head, yes and mouthed the word, yes," Sturm says.

At first, Lisa did not believe her mother was waking from her coma. She knew that terminal patients can seem to waken for a moment before death, but Rae began talking. Alan's roller-coaster of emotions suddenly sped upwards on a hill.

"For her to start talking to us and everything working, she wasn't paralyzed. She just kept climbing the ladder," he says.

It was a ladder back to awareness after being given up for dead. Rae sat up in her room. A prayer shawl covered her legs. She knitted many such shawls for others in distress but never thought she would need one herself. Rae says she does not remember anything that occurred during the coma.

"I remember my daughter, Lisa, asking me questions about angels," says Rae.

Lisa wondered what her mother was seeing in the room at home. Rae says she did see angels, but no one she recognized. "I said these angels are not here to take me home to my father. They're here to help me, to help me get over this," says Rae.

Doctors at United Hospital, including Physical Medicine physician Brad Helms are amazed by Rae's recovery.

"This is extremely unusual. It's virtually never heard of. You have some people who get better after a bleed, but in Rae's case, she was essentially brain dead and when she was in the intensive care unit, just was not responding to any sort of stimuli or any sort of activity. I've been here since 1999 and this is the first case like this I've seen," says Dr. Helms.

Rae has been undergoing physical therapy twice a day for three weeks. Dr. Helms expects her to be able to walk unaided in a few months. He says she has the possibility of a full recovery.

Rae and Alan have a zest for life that has carried them across the globe. They are continuing plans for a "roadtrip" to Washington, D.C. and Williamsburg, Virginia in May. Then, they plan to tour Greece in October. Rae Kupferschmidt intends to make good use of her second chance at life.

Others may call her survival a "miracle." She does not.

"I'm not a miracle lady. I am just a very blessed lady that God chose not to be done with," says Rae.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: Minnesota
KEYWORDS: atatt; braindead; lifesupport; miracle; moralabsolutes
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God does answer prayer.

Video at link.

1 posted on 02/13/2008 11:28:20 AM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo

Good thing she isn’t married to Michael Schiavo!


2 posted on 02/13/2008 11:31:04 AM PST by TommyDale (Never forget the Republicans who voted for illegal immigrant amnesty in 2007!)
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo
How many people get a second chance at life? Rae Kupferschmidt has. In mid-January, the 65-year-old former medical secretary suffered a devasting cerebral hemorrhage, a massive bleeding on the brain.
Not Terri Schavio....
3 posted on 02/13/2008 11:31:11 AM PST by Rick.Donaldson (http://www.transasianaxis.com - Visit for lastest on DPRK/Russia/China/Etc --Fred Thompson for Prez.)
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo
In grief, Alan Kupferschmidt took his wife of 45 years back to Lake Elmo so she could take her last breath in her own bed. The house was soon full of friends and family who came to say goodbye. Rae says she is glad she was unconscious while everyone was mourning what they thought was her inevitable death.

In previous news, Mike Schiavo took the feeding tubes off his wife while she was conscious. For her own good, of course.
4 posted on 02/13/2008 11:33:28 AM PST by alecqss
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo
God does answer prayer.

He does, every time. Just not always the way one might be wishing He would.

And not one sparrow falls to the ground apart from His will.

5 posted on 02/13/2008 11:34:50 AM PST by newgeezer (Just my opinion, of course. Your mileage may vary.)
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To: TommyDale

Too true...


6 posted on 02/13/2008 11:35:03 AM PST by DoughtyOne (That's right McStain, you'll get my vote when you peel it from my cold dead fingers.)
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To: DoughtyOne

An uplifting story.


7 posted on 02/13/2008 11:36:57 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks (ENERGY CRISIS made in Washington D. C.)
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo

She immediately switched her party affiliation from Democrat to Republican.

Bada-bump BUMP!!!

Try the veal.


8 posted on 02/13/2008 11:37:01 AM PST by SJSAMPLE
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To: Eric in the Ozarks

Very much so... I agree. This was a nice read.


9 posted on 02/13/2008 11:39:13 AM PST by DoughtyOne (That's right McStain, you'll get my vote when you peel it from my cold dead fingers.)
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo

What? Not a story like this right now! Uh, don't think about me because of this! Oh no! I may be on McCain's ticket so PLEASE forget about me and what a wimp I am. OK? Pretty please! ---Jebbie The Hut.

10 posted on 02/13/2008 11:50:11 AM PST by isthisnickcool (Hillary / Obama - 2008 <---Bet on it. She will do it to win.)
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo

“She knew that terminal patients can seem to waken for a moment before death”

My Mom passed away a little over a year ago, at my sister’s house. Mom was mentally gone for six months prior to her passing. Didn’t seem to know anything or anyone. Sis told me that a few days before Mom went, she was sitting up talking to everyone as if she was fine.


11 posted on 02/13/2008 11:52:15 AM PST by fredhead (Compared to war, all other forms of human endeavor shrink to insignificance. - Patton)
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To: DoughtyOne; Eric in the Ozarks

BTW...She went home today...


12 posted on 02/13/2008 11:56:35 AM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo (Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight.)
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo
Back home in Lake Elmo. Something “prairie home” about it...
13 posted on 02/13/2008 11:58:58 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks (ENERGY CRISIS made in Washington D. C.)
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo

Yep, He does.

Almost an identical story happened to my Mom about six years ago. She had a massive cranial bleed from a split in one of her arteries at 9 p.m, filling 3 of the 4 - are they called ventricles? - of the brain. The Dr asked us if we wanted to let her go, and we said just wait and see.

I called my girlfriends for their prayers, and then settled down for “first shift” as she was placed on monitors and all her vital signs deteriorated throughout the nite and she had stopped communicating shortly after she was admitted. No other intervention was done.

I left at 4 a.m. and my brother Bob took over. She woke up about an hour later and asked him if he had changed his shirt. She was discharged a few days later, made pretty much a full recovery and is still alive.

Some of the doctors and nurses specifically said it was a miracle. God is awesome, isn’t He.


14 posted on 02/13/2008 12:09:55 PM PST by Wicket (God bless and protect our troops and God bless America)
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To: Eric in the Ozarks

Where’s Elmo?


15 posted on 02/13/2008 12:19:28 PM PST by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ("Don't touch that thing")
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo

Now she can’t vote for Hillary!


16 posted on 02/13/2008 12:20:22 PM PST by JRios1968 ("If you go over a cliff with all flags flying, you are still going over a cliff" —Ronald Reagan)
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To: TommyDale

She’s blessed, that’s for sure. But she was lying out getting prepared to be buried. What is different with what her husband was doing and Mr. Schiavo?


17 posted on 02/13/2008 12:20:37 PM PST by shoelessbuddha
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To: Dr. Bogus Pachysandra

On the way to Stillwater.


18 posted on 02/13/2008 12:28:18 PM PST by Eric in the Ozarks (ENERGY CRISIS made in Washington D. C.)
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To: Eric in the Ozarks

I guess I was thinkin’ of a different Elmo.
http://www.softplayforkids.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=49


19 posted on 02/13/2008 12:32:59 PM PST by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ("Don't touch that thing")
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To: shoelessbuddha
"What is different with what her husband was doing and Mr. Schiavo?"

He might have insisted that she really hadn't recovered, and they must go ahead and bury her so he could get on with his life?

20 posted on 02/13/2008 12:36:49 PM PST by TommyDale (Never forget the Republicans who voted for illegal immigrant amnesty in 2007!)
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