WSVN -- Dr. Chauncey Crandall isn't your usual doctor.
The world-renowned cardiologist is a man of medicine and science, but he's also a man of faith.
Dr. Chauncey Crandall: "If you come in with a problem
into our service, we are definitely going to treat you with conventional medicine, but we are going to believe it too, we
are going to attack it with conventional medicine and we are going to attack it with prayer."
He calls himself the Christian physician because
he prays with each heart patient he sees at his Palm Beach practice. The difference he says is dramatic.
Dr. Chauncey Crandall: "The reason I pray for people
is because I found early in my trained practice that there were miracles, unexplained healings."
But even his strong faith could not prepare him
for what would happen the day Jeff Markin walked into the Palm Beach Gardens emergency room.
Jeff Markin: "I drove to the Garden's Hospital,
went in, took out my wallet and fell on the floor with a massive heart attack."
For 40 minutes doctors and nurses in the ER tried
to revive him. When they couldn't get his heart started again they called for Dr. Crandall who was doing rounds in the hospital
at the time.
Dr. Chauncey Crandall: "As I entered the ER it was
like a war zone. Here was this lifeless body on a stretcher."
The doctor couldn't do anything and could only confirm
what everyone already knew, Jeff was dead. He had gone almost an hour without a heartbeat and his body was starting to decompose.
Dr. Chauncey Crandall: "His face, his arms, his
legs were pitch black with death. I said let's just call the code, let's end it because there's no life left."
As Dr. Crandall turned to leave he says he got another
call this time, a call from God to pray.
Dr. Chauncey Crandall: "A voice told me to turn
around and pray for that man. I looked down at the body and I said Lord what can I pray for this man he's gone? All of a sudden
these words came out, 'Father I cry out for this man's soul, if he does not know you raise him from the dead'."
Despite protests from doctors and nurses who were
preparing Jeff's body for the morgue, doctor Crandall insisted they shock him one more time.
Dr. Chauncey Crandall: "So that doctor came over
with those paddles and blasted that man and all of a sudden instantly a perfect heartbeat came up on the monitor. The stomach
started moving, the chest started moving. This man started breathing on his own and I said this man has been prayed for, he
has been brought back from the dead by prayer in the name of Jesus."
Louis Aguirre: "So where was Jeff during all of
this? He believes he left his body and crossed over to the after life.
Jeff Markin: "I was actually standing in the back
of the funeral home and I came to realize that this was my funeral.
But in the middle of sitting alone in darkness,
Jeff says a figure suddenly appeared to him.
Jeff Markin: "There was a figure that identified
himself as Bob and he was going to make sure that everything was going to be OK. I'm figuring that was my guardian angel.
At that time, a very peaceful feeling and very relaxed feeling came over me and then he said he had to go and the next thing
I know, I woke up in my daughter's arms."
He woke up to a second chance, one that can't be
explained by medicine or science. As Dr. Crandall puts it, the only answer is divine intervention.
Dr. Chauncey Crandall: "You are speaking to a scientist,
a cardiologist, someone who loves medicine, I've never, ever seen this. There are always people that do not believe these
events and I will just tell them that it did happen. It was a real story, a real life that was restored."
Jeff wasn't exactly a believer before that day.
He didn't regularly attend Church or read the Bible, but this experience has made him believe there is a higher purpose for
his life.
Jeff Markin: "I feel like maybe I am supposed to
be a messenger. I want to get the right message across that miracles do happen."
A miracle that brought him life after death.
Jeff Markin: "I'm so happy I have a second chance."
Louis Aguirre: "Jeff says he is now attending
Church mainly because he wants to figure out why he was chosen for a second chance at life."