Ruby Graupera-Cassimiro - Doctors at a Florida hospital have described the survival of a woman whose heart stopped beating for 45 minutes and whose breath had ceased for up to 3 hours, as a miracle.
"She essentially stopped breathing when we were about to call the time of death," a spokesman for the Boca Raton Hospital where she was admitted, Thomas Chakurda, said. "Today she is the picture of health."
Ruby Graupera-Cassimiro, 40, is reported to have been admitted to the Boca Raton Regional Hospital for a cesarean section in September. The operation was completed successfully, but the patient developed some complications soon after.
Reports indicate that she stopped breathing and doctors frantically attempted to resuscitate her for about 3 hours. Finally, her pulse stopped and the medics were just about to call her time of death when her pulse picked up on its own.
Chakurda revealed that the family of Ruby Graupera-Cassimiro had even been told that she did not make it before her spontaneous recovery.
"I don't know why I was given this opportunity - but I'm very grateful for it," the mother of two revealed.
Ruby Graupera-Cassimiro returned to the Boca Raton Hospital this week for the first time since she was released after her miraculous recovery. Like the hospital, she ruled her revival down to divine providence.
"God had the right people in the right place," she explained.
Ruby Graupera-Cassimiro confessed to meeting her deceased father while she was unconscious, who told her that she needed to return.
Chakurda says all the medics who treated Ruby Graupera-Cassimiro were impacted by what they saw. "They were all struck," he said.
Ruby-Graupera-Cassimiro suffered from amniotic fluid embolism. This condition occurs when fluid from a mother's womb leaks into her blood stream and triggers an allergic reaction from the body. Medical experts say the condition is very difficult to diagnose.
