Somewhere in the drug-induced coma, 24-year-old Michael Winkleman said he found Jesus. And that’s when he woke up.
Winkleman does not remember how he got into that hospital bed. All he can remember is working that day, and then nothing, according to our media partner the North County Times.
Danette Cullinan remembers that night last October quite vividly, though. Her son had been “critically” injured according to a California Highway Patrol news release. The gruesome site that was the accident was a testament to that.
One of Winkleman’s hands had been severed at the wrist, dangling and spun around the radius twice. Her son wasn’t breathing when rescue workers found him within the crumpled metal that once was a truck. Despite the horrific scene, the worker taped Winkleman’s wrist and assisted his breathing with a foot pump.
It’s been long since “Miracle Michael” had his brush with death. But the grueling recovery proved to be difficult for him, too. Dennis Poletti, Winkleman’s stepfather said his wife was told “you might as well just pull the plug on this kid.”
Poletti said his stepson’s presence was real though.
“I felt it,” he told the North County Times. “They said it was neurons blasting, but his hands were moving. He was clenching his fists.”
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Winkleman spent months receiving treatment at the Inland Valley Medical Center in Wildomar, but then was transferred to Corona Regional Medical Center for rehabilitation, the paper reported. His body was still feeble, and was not allowed to move, eat or speak. Nutrients were pumped directly to his stomach via tube, as well as oxygen to his lungs. The young man in the prime of his life began to wither away, his body weight dropping below 100 lbs.
“I was eating my lips,” Winkleman told the paper.
He begged his mother to sneak him food, and she almost gave in. As she drove to the hospital with two cups of yogurt, she knew she didn’t trust herself not to give her son the food.
Cullinan convinced doctors to give her son more food, and eventually his weight returned to a healthy level of 150 lbs.
It has only been just over a week since Winkleman was released in his mother’s care. Cullinan told the North County Times that her son is nothing less than “the poster child for post-traumatic brain injury recovery.”
The road to a full recovery still continues. Winkleman must endure physical, occupational, and speech therapy before he can move on with his life.
“God is good,” said Winkleman who plans on becoming a pastor. “Praise the Lord.”
He said he also wants to go to school and write a book. The accident, he said, was a perfect time to start over a life that he said he was not proud of.
He prayed to ask God for help to change “because I was doing good and I was doing some bad things. I guess the accident was the way to do it. I just started over.”
He finished the thought with gratitude, “So thank you, Lord.”
Cullinan cried as her son spoke, punctuating his grateful message of thanks with her own. “He gave us both a second chance,” she said.
