Willard Richards miraculously sustained during severe illness

Willard Richards, a prominent member of the First Presidency and a physician, became critically ill in Great Salt Lake City after attending a meeting of the Utah Territorial legislature on January 20, 1854. This event marked the final time he was able to leave his home. His condition deteriorated rapidly, and by January 30 and 31, he had fallen into a state of total insensibility, becoming speechless and helpless, to the point that his death was anticipated by observers on an hourly basis. Although he survived this immediate crisis, he remained bedridden and incapacitated for the following two months. He eventually succumbed to dropsy—a condition involving systemic swelling now referred to as edema—and passed away at his home on March 11, 1854, at the age of 49.

Fuller account of this event (as retold in The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 16, No. 19, 13 May 1854):

We learn, by private letter, that Willard Richards, of the First Presidency of the Church, was taken very ill on the 20th of January, and on the 30th and 31st was quite insensible, speechless, and helpless, and every hour was expected to be his last. Whether that expectation has been realized, and Zion mourns her loss, we cannot tell, but, knowing that God reigns, and guards the welfare of His people, we can say, whether in life or in death, all is well.