Boy Dying of Polio in Iron Lung Recovers After Apostolic Blessing

Elder Matthew Cowley was called to Salt Lake County Hospital by a mother whose young boy — about eight or nine years old — was dying of polio. The child was unconscious in an iron lung, his face a blackish color, with tubes in his throat and abdomen. He had been flown in from an outlying community.

Elder Cowley went with a young bishop whose faith he greatly admired. As he laid his hands on the boy's head, Cowley sensed powerfully that this was an unusual child of great faith. Drawing upon that faith, he blessed the boy and promised he would recover.

Weeks later, Elder Cowley stopped by the hospital while passing through on his way to a conference. The boy came running down the hall to meet him. He still had a tube in his throat, but was up and moving about, fully alert. He thanked Elder Cowley for the blessing and, entirely on his own initiative, asked Cowley to bless two other boys in the ward before he left. He was fully well within a short time.

'Except ye believe as a child, you cannot receive these great blessings,' Elder Cowley remarked afterward.