A Near Brush with Death and Miraculous Recovery

Our Lady of Good Success

A Near Brush with Death and
Miraculous Recovery
Testimony of Tony Resch

It was the early morning hours of October 11, 2005 and Tony Resch, 45, was returning home from a country music karaoke bar. The unmarried farmer, a traditionalist Catholic, lives with his parents and works on their family farm in Reedsville, Wisconsin. He describes his life as simple, hardworking, and quiet; one of his few recreations was to ride his blue Harley Davidson on the country roads.

That evening, he had decided to take his Harley out, thinking it might well be “the last ride of the year” before he put his bike away for the winter. It almost became the last ride of his life.

The holy card of Our Lady of Good Success that was near Tony's hospital bed

When he left the bar to return home, it was the early morning hours and very foggy , with a visibility of only 10 to 15 feet. He was driving very slowly – only 20 to 30 mph. The last thing he remembers was sliding on a sharp curve on a town road. Three weeks later he woke up in intensive care at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Green Bay, Wisconsin. One of the first things he saw was a picture of Our Lady, the one displayed at left. He didn’t recognize it - it wasn’t Our Lady of Fatima or Our Lady of Lourdes.

“Who is it?” he asked his mother.

“Our Lady of Good Success,” his mother, Mary Resch, answered.

In one of the many cards the family had received during Tony’s hospital stay, one had included this holy card with a small piece of cloth touched to the miraculous statue and the Novena to Our Lady of Good Success on the back. His mother decided to pray to Our Lady of Good Success for her son’s miraculous recovery. His prospects were bleak according to the doctors, and it appeared that it would take a miracle for Tony – in comatose state – to return to consciousness and make a full recovery.

What happened that night? According to the Brown County Sheriff Department report, Tony was found about 30 feet from his motorcycle. After losing control of his cycle, he had bounced on the ground, hitting his head. A woman in a house nearby happened to be up at 2 a.m. having a cup of tea because she couldn’t sleep. She heard the crash, grabbed a flashlight and went outside to investigate.

She found Tony only minutes after the crash, his head split open and unconscious, and she flagged down a passing motorist who was a first responder. Again, another providential circumstance to find such a person out that late. He called the ambulance, sheriff’s department and family. Tony was in such a critical state that the Brown County Sheriff Report was titled “Fatal Accident Scene: Investigative Report.”

At TIA headquarters, Tony Resch shows the image of Our Lady that helped to save his life

Tony was comatose, diagnosed with acute traumatic brain injury, a traumatic epidural hematoma, multiple skull and facial fractures and respiratory failure. The report states: “Prognosis is grim.” Tony’s parents called the family priest, Fr. Moreau from the Institute of Christ the King, who went to the hospital and gave Tony the last rites that evening.

Tony remained in a comatose state for three weeks as his family and friends stormed Heaven with prayers. The doctors met with his parents and told him they should be prepared to move him to a nursing home, where he could receive care as a comatose patient. When his mother received the card of Our Lady of Good Success, she felt inspired to make the novena for Tony’s recovery.

After he awakened, his recovery was quick. In three days he was out of intensive care and drinking fluids. The doctors were amazed, and two of them told him his recovery – with no brain injury – was miraculous. Today, he looks absolutely normal – no facial reconstruction or surgery was needed despite his broken upper jaw. Loss of sight in his left eye is his one daily reminder of his brush with death.

He sees the hand of Providence in many aspects of his accident, the “good Samaritans’ who found him in those early morning hours and helped him, as well as the many who prayed for him. He was wearing a brown scapular and carrying a Sacred Heart badge at the time of the accident. Before he started the ride, he followed his normal custom and prayed the Guardian Angel prayer. For a long time he had been saying the daily Rosary; now he is trying to pray all 15 decades every day.

Tony says that he wants to help others and do good with what is left of his life. He also wants to show his gratitude to Our Lady of Good Success by giving this testimony of his recovery through her intercession and helping to spread devotion to her. He says the novena to her every day and always carries the card that he first saw in St. Vincent’s Hospital when he awakened from his coma. Someday he hopes to go to Quito to see the miraculous statue.

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