A 28-year-old U.S. Navy veteran who was expected to die after doctors found severe brain damage has regained consciousness, days after his family began preparing for his funeral and arranging to donate his organs — a recovery relatives are calling a miracle.
Ethan Preseau was removed from life support after his family believed there was no hope of recovery. Instead of dying, he later woke up and is now reportedly smiling and laughing at jokes.
At the beginning of June, Preseau had relocated to Pensacola, Florida, to begin a new chapter of his life with his girlfriend, Piper Wade. He was unloading belongings from his truck when Wade realized he had not come back inside. She went outside and found him unconscious, according to the family’s GoFundMe campaign.
“You don’t want to see someone that you love in that state,” Wade told WEAR-TV. “So I just freaked out and, I immediately — I don’t know CPR, but I understand what it is, so I tried to do that for a second.”
“But I realized I don’t know what I’m doing, so I ran inside as fast as possible, and I called 911, and they were there so fast,” she continued. “Maybe in like 30 seconds, they were there.”
Doctors later determined that Preseau had suffered a severe infection affecting his heart, and he spent days on life support. As time passed, the veteran’s family began to lose hope.
“When they did the brain MRI, the MRI showed that the thalamus was black and dead,” stepmother, Denice Preseau, told WEAR News. “So we had absolutely no hope.”
Although he was breathing on his own, there was no expectation of recovery, and Preseau’s family prepared to take him off life support, but his girlfriend asked them to wait 10 more days.
While they waited those 10 days, the family checked funeral homes, made the proper arrangements and set up his organ donation, according to the fundraising page. When the 10th day arrived, the family came to say their goodbyes, and nurses took the Navy veteran off life support.
“We wanted to do it together,” Wade explained. “And I was like, I don’t know how I’m going to go from like, I just wanted to start a life with someone to now all of that is gone, you know? It’s like having like the rug just taken out from under you.”
After the hospital did the organ donor honor walk with the family and presented them with an American flag for his military service, the family said their goodbyes and then went for a walk on the beach to honor Preseau’s favorite pastime.
“As they were gathered on the sand, the phone rang; it was the hospital asking them to come back to the hospital and choose a hospice location,” the GoFundMe page explains.
“Miraculously, when they walked in, Ethan was awake! He followed his father across the room with his eyes, turned his head and smiled. He stuck his tongue out for the nurses three times. He raised his arm and squeezed his father’s fingers. He tried for a thumbs up. Ethan was back!”
Preseau’s organs are fine, doctors say. Since he initially suffered an infection of the heart, he will be transferred to a Traumatic Brain Injury specialty rehab facility.
“We have witnessed a miracle! God obviously has more in store for Ethan, Piper and their newly bonded family. He has come through a major medical miracle!” Denice Preseau wrote in a statement on the family’s fundraising campaign.
Ethan Preseau’s case comes amid renewed public attention to organ donation procedures. Last year, The New York Times analyzed scenarios involving a type of organ removal called donation after circulatory death.
According to The Times, patients in circulatory death donation cases are on life support and alive with some brain activity. People who are brain dead, however, are in an irreversible state, and machines are used to maintain their organs.
Circulatory death donation cases accounted for a third of all donations in 2024, The Times reported.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
