Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's 'Really Miraculous' Recovery — and the Doctor Who Had 'Other Answers' (2020)

In 2020, in the shadow of his 80th year, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was admitted to the hospital for issues unrelated to COVID-19, after a lifetime of excellent health and athletics. Speaking on the Church News podcast in December of that year, he described what followed for several of those health issues as recoveries that were, in his words, really miraculous — a word he emphasized he does not use lightly at all, but the only word he could use.

One of his doctors came to him with a report on an issue that was not supposed to be remedied, where tissues and organs were not expected to work again — and which had been healed. Medically and scientifically, the doctor told him, there was no explanation for the dramatic results. But the doctor, who was himself a high priest, a bishop, and a returned missionary, told Elder Holland that he had other answers beyond his medical training — and that it does not hurt to have several million people praying for you.

Elder Holland said the experience was tender to him then and remained so: he knew people pray for the Brethren, and he hoped the members would know that their prayers are appreciated and reciprocated, because the Brethren pray for the Church and go forward on the strength of the Church praying for them.