Michele De Leeuw was 57 years-old when she suffered a massive heart attack, and doctors told her family afterwards that she only had a sliver of brain function left. That’s why it is being described as a miracle that Michele has since made a full recovery.

Michele was at home with her husband in Sterling Heights, Michigan when she suffered the heart attack four months ago. She was without oxygen for fifteen minutes, so paramedics were not confident about her survival when they rushed her to the hospital. It takes only six minutes after the heart stops pumping blood for a person’s brain to fail, and ten minutes without blood flow to the brain usually results in permanent damage.

Six days after Michele got to the hospital, doctors informed her family that she had just 5% brain function and 25% heart function. Her husband Karl was then left with what he describes as “the hardest decision of his life:” choosing to take his wife off of life support.

Karl made the heartbreaking decision to take his wife off life support, but minutes later, something incredible happened: she started breathing on her own! Doctors still did not think she would survive, until she woke up two days later!

Just two days after she woke up, she was talking on her own, and she was feeding herself two days after that. In the four months since then, Michele has made a full recovery after undergoing open-heart surgery as well as speech and physical therapy.

Earlier this week, Michele finally went home to celebrate her 26th wedding anniversary with Karl!

“You wouldn’t believe it if you didn’t know what she’s gone through,” Karl said. “She’s a miracle lady.”