Positivity: Back from the Dead

This man was clinically dead for three hours–and lived:

Miracle man Maciak is modern-day Lazarus

HE’S BEEN dubbed the Miracle Man in Ireland. Hubert Maciak was brought back to life by doctors after being clinically dead for three hours.

His body temperature dropped almost 15 degrees below normal and he had no pulse or heartbeat after his canoe capsized at sea.

But a medical team at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda fought to save the Polish-born youth and he has now made a full recovery.

Hospital registrar Dr. Vinod Chinnappa said Hubert was technically dead and staff at the hospital have nicknamed him their Miracle Man.

Agricultural student Hubert was on a three-month work placement at a farm Co. Louth when he went canoeing.

But his canoe capsized and he had to be rescued by helicopter.

Dr. Chinnappa said: “He had gone into cardiac arrest and he had deep hypothermia.

“He seemed to be clinically dead. After 11.2 hours there was still no response.

“Technically he was absolutely dead. As for complications he had them all and we were worried that if he was resuscitated he would be brain-dead.”

Almost five hours after Hubert first fell into the water doctors finally got a pulse.

The only serious complication as a result of his ordeal was renal failure and he underwent dialysis in the Mater Hospital for three weeks before being discharged.

Dr. Chinnappa has since written a number of papers on the miracle patient and said this case showed that doctors should not give up on patients.