Miracle Man

Gloucester postman, Joao Araujo, has a tale to tell – one whose result he continues to give thanks for every day.

Dad-of-two, Joao, from Gloucester South Delivery Office, was dubbed the ‘Miracle Man’ after he collapsed while driving his then wife to work and was rushed to hospital almost 10 years ago.

After six hours trying to save him, doctors at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital gave his family the devastating news that he had died. But as nurses took him to the morgue, they noticed he was moving. Tests revealed it had been 21 minutes before circulation had ‘spontaneously returned’ to Joao’s heart.

He was in a coma for three days before waking and doctors had feared he could be brain damaged, but incredibly, Joao made a full recovery and was back at work within just three weeks.

‘Doctors couldn’t believe I was alive without any damage in my heart, brain or body,’ said Joao. Experts on the hospital’s cardiac ward said there was no exact explanation for what happened to him, or how he was fit enough to go back to work in such a short period of time. His medical notes simply recorded a ‘spontaneous return of circulation’.

‘It changed me,’ added Joao. ‘I give more value to all the things every day. Every single day I say thank you that I am alive and have a job. I give more value to my family and my friends.

‘When I was at the hospital they had no explanation for my problem so people started calling me the “Miracle Man”.

Joao, who was a cleaner at the time ‘died’ on 18 April 2009. He goes back to hospital every six months for a check-up and is still known by staff there as the ‘Miracle Man’.

Since becoming a postman Joao has only recently decided to share his experience 10 years on, having previously told people that he ‘didn’t want to be famous’.

Joao told Gloucestershire Live that this wasn’t the first time he had made such a miraculous recovery.

In 2005, he had a crash in Cuenca, Spain which left him with a broken femur, pelvis, four ribs and shoulder blade. He also suffered 90% blood loss, damaging his pancreas and liver. Doctors told him that he would never survive the operation. But indeed, he did. Doctors then said that he would never walk or move his arms again. It looks like they were wrong!

Photo by Gloucestershire Live.