{"id":554,"date":"2009-05-14T20:36:53","date_gmt":"2009-05-14T20:36:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?p=554"},"modified":"2010-12-22T13:06:49","modified_gmt":"2010-12-22T18:06:49","slug":"7067","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/05\/14\/7067\/","title":{"rendered":"Special Blood Drive Celebrates \u2018A Miracle\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>WILMETTE, IL (May 14, 2009) \u2013 Medical personnel at Northwestern Memorial Hospital needed 40 units of blood to save the life of Dwight Samuelson on Saturday, March 21.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nAt <a href=\"http:\/\/www.winnetkacovenant.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Winnetka Covenant Church<\/a> on Saturday, his friends donated 41 units to save the lives of people they will never meet.<\/p>\n<p>The blood drive was held to honor Samuelson, 62, who not only survived a bleeding ulcer that no one knew he had, but also awoke from a coma to the surprise of physicians. From the time he first became ill until the blood drive, his family would learn how many friends Samuelson has around the world.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/dr\/AB\/drAB7vOGZ34v1KTk9eMTAA\/Blood.jpg\" alt=\"Samuelson\" hspace=\"4\" vspace=\"4\" align=\"left\" \/>Samuelson worked at the local Chicago affiliate NBC-5 news station for 42 years until he retired, but he contracted to continue doing editing on Saturday mornings. That decision probably saved his life.<\/p>\n<p>During the early morning shift he began to feel \u201cexcruciating pain.\u201d Samuelson had been treated for shingles and thought the pain was related to that. He had no idea the pain reliever he was taking only made him sicker.<\/p>\n<p>Suddenly, he coughed up a large amount of blood and fainted. Within a few minutes, however, he woke up not knowing what had happened. <a href=\"http:\/\/prayingfordwight.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">In a blog<\/a> the family published to help friends follow Samuelson\u2019s progress, co-worker Adriana Correa wrote: \u201cAll he wanted to do was get up and finish editing for the 9 a.m. show!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>An ambulance arrived and transported Samuelson several blocks to the hospital.<br \/>\n\u201cGood thing I was at work,\u201d Samuelson says. \u201cIt was only four minutes away from Northwestern.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His condition deteriorated quickly, with blood filling two-thirds of his stomach, recalls his daughter, Barbara Nordlund. \u201cHe was bleeding so quickly the team of doctors could not find the source. The doctors worked 12 hours to save him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Samuelson slipped into a coma, and doctors told the family that even if he survived, he probably would remain in a vegetative state. The blood loss had deprived his brain of oxygen for a significant period of time, and an EEG showed little activity.<\/p>\n<p>He lay in intensive care for days and his condition only seemed to deteriorate. \u201cHis heart was barely pumping,\u201d Nordlund notes. \u201cEach day seemed like a new organ was having problems.\u201d<\/p>\n<h6>\u201cEven the doctors were saying it was miraculous.\u201d<\/h6>\n<p>On March 28 \u2013 a week after he first entered the hospital \u2013 Samuelson was scheduled to have an MRI to better determine the damage to his brain. But then he surprised everyone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSuddenly, he woke up,\u201d says Nordlund. \u201cEven the doctors were saying it was miraculous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Within days he was speaking. Samuelson made such incredible progress, he soon returned home without needing to do any physical therapy at the hospital. A home nurse and physical therapist assisted him at home until May 1. The accompanying photo shows Samuelson completing a treadmill workout. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/cov\/news\/item7066\" target=\"_blank\">Click here<\/a> to see additional photos.<\/p>\n<p>Nordlund says she is excited with the size of the turnout at the blood drive, which was held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. Nearly a dozen other people volunteered to give blood, but were not able to due to medication or other issues.<\/p>\n<p>Samuelson was left blind in his left eye, but he is thankful that is the apparent extent of any lasting damage. He also is grateful that so many friends prayed for him. Within days after the family first published <a href=\"http:\/\/prayingfordwight.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">the blog<\/a>, it had received 30,000 hits, he says.<\/p>\n<p>People from nearly every continent, including some with whom he had not spoken for years, wrote to say they were praying. \u201cYou don\u2019t realize how much they\u2019re concerned about you,\u201d Samuelson says, still amazed at the response.<\/p>\n<p>But not anymore amazed than they are with him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-report-this\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire?moderation_action=report_form&#038;object_type=post&#038;object_id=554&#038;width=250&#038;height=300\" class=\"thickbox\" title=\"Report This Post\">Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WILMETTE, IL (May 14, 2009) \u2013 Medical personnel at Northwestern Memorial Hospital needed 40 units of blood to save the life of Dwight Samuelson on Saturday, March 21.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Special Blood Drive Celebrates \u2018A Miracle\u2019 - Covenant Newswire Archives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/05\/14\/7067\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Special Blood Drive Celebrates \u2018A Miracle\u2019 - Covenant Newswire Archives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"WILMETTE, IL (May 14, 2009) \u2013 Medical personnel at Northwestern Memorial Hospital needed 40 units of blood to save the life of Dwight Samuelson on Saturday, March 21.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/05\/14\/7067\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Covenant Newswire Archives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-05-14T20:36:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2010-12-22T18:06:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/dr\/AB\/drAB7vOGZ34v1KTk9eMTAA\/Blood.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/05\\\/14\\\/7067\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/05\\\/14\\\/7067\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8\"},\"headline\":\"Special Blood Drive Celebrates \u2018A Miracle\u2019\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-05-14T20:36:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-12-22T18:06:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/05\\\/14\\\/7067\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":614,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/05\\\/14\\\/7067\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.covchurch.org\\\/uploads\\\/dr\\\/AB\\\/drAB7vOGZ34v1KTk9eMTAA\\\/Blood.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/05\\\/14\\\/7067\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/05\\\/14\\\/7067\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/05\\\/14\\\/7067\\\/\",\"name\":\"Special Blood Drive Celebrates \u2018A Miracle\u2019 - Covenant Newswire Archives\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/05\\\/14\\\/7067\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/05\\\/14\\\/7067\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.covchurch.org\\\/uploads\\\/dr\\\/AB\\\/drAB7vOGZ34v1KTk9eMTAA\\\/Blood.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-05-14T20:36:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-12-22T18:06:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/05\\\/14\\\/7067\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/05\\\/14\\\/7067\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/05\\\/14\\\/7067\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.covchurch.org\\\/uploads\\\/dr\\\/AB\\\/drAB7vOGZ34v1KTk9eMTAA\\\/Blood.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.covchurch.org\\\/uploads\\\/dr\\\/AB\\\/drAB7vOGZ34v1KTk9eMTAA\\\/Blood.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/05\\\/14\\\/7067\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Special Blood Drive Celebrates \u2018A Miracle\u2019\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/\",\"name\":\"Covenant Newswire Archives\",\"description\":\"Evangelical Covenant Church\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/author\\\/covwebster\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Special Blood Drive Celebrates \u2018A Miracle\u2019 - Covenant Newswire Archives","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/05\/14\/7067\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Special Blood Drive Celebrates \u2018A Miracle\u2019 - Covenant Newswire Archives","og_description":"WILMETTE, IL (May 14, 2009) \u2013 Medical personnel at Northwestern Memorial Hospital needed 40 units of blood to save the life of Dwight Samuelson on Saturday, March 21.","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/05\/14\/7067\/","og_site_name":"Covenant Newswire Archives","article_published_time":"2009-05-14T20:36:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2010-12-22T18:06:49+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/dr\/AB\/drAB7vOGZ34v1KTk9eMTAA\/Blood.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/05\/14\/7067\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/05\/14\/7067\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#\/schema\/person\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8"},"headline":"Special Blood Drive Celebrates \u2018A Miracle\u2019","datePublished":"2009-05-14T20:36:53+00:00","dateModified":"2010-12-22T18:06:49+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/05\/14\/7067\/"},"wordCount":614,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/05\/14\/7067\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/dr\/AB\/drAB7vOGZ34v1KTk9eMTAA\/Blood.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/05\/14\/7067\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/05\/14\/7067\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/05\/14\/7067\/","name":"Special Blood Drive Celebrates \u2018A Miracle\u2019 - Covenant Newswire Archives","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/05\/14\/7067\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/05\/14\/7067\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/dr\/AB\/drAB7vOGZ34v1KTk9eMTAA\/Blood.jpg","datePublished":"2009-05-14T20:36:53+00:00","dateModified":"2010-12-22T18:06:49+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#\/schema\/person\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/05\/14\/7067\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/05\/14\/7067\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/05\/14\/7067\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/dr\/AB\/drAB7vOGZ34v1KTk9eMTAA\/Blood.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/dr\/AB\/drAB7vOGZ34v1KTk9eMTAA\/Blood.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/05\/14\/7067\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Special Blood Drive Celebrates \u2018A Miracle\u2019"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#website","url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/","name":"Covenant Newswire Archives","description":"Evangelical Covenant Church","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#\/schema\/person\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/author\/covwebster\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6212,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554\/revisions\/6212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}