A team of surgeons from Missouri nearly harvested a father’s organs until his doctor intervened. Then, just two days later, the man woke up. According to the Daily Mail, this all started when Larry Black was shot in the head on the way to his sister’s apartment.

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Doctor Stopped Surgeons From Harvesting His Patient’s Organs Two Days Before He Awoke

This happened on March 24, 2019, when the victim was only 22 years old. One week later, surgeons were preparing to harvest his organs at SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital.

The man’s doctor, Zohny Zohny, rushed into the operating room to stop the harvesting. Black’s heart was still beating, and his doctor had never declared him brain dead.

The 34-year-old doctor heard his patient was about to have his organs harvested without his consent, and it was only his first year as a doctor. This sort of accident could ruin his career.

“The worst-case scenario for me is that I lose my job,” Zohny said to KFF Health News. “Worst-case scenario for him, he wrongfully loses his life.”

Storming into the operating room, Zohny shouted, “Get him off the table.” He recalled saying Black was his patient and to stop what they were doing.

No one was sure who had just yelled that, as Zohny had a surgical mask on. Zohny revealed he was Black’s neurosurgeon, but the surgical team defended themselves and claimed they had the family’s consent to remove his organs.

“I don’t care if we have consent,” Zohny remembered saying. “I haven’t spoken to the family, and I don’t agree with this. Get him off the table.”

The team of surgeons accepted and returned him to the ICU. Black woke up two days later, to his family’s delight. His sister Molly Watts was worried after agreeing to donate her brother’s organs. That was, until the neurosurgeon stopped what would’ve ended Black’s life prematurely.

Six Years Later

Six years have passed since then, and Black is a father of three children and a musician. Despite surviving, he requires regular physical therapy due to the bullet injury. Black also recalls the unsettling feeling of hearing his family while he was in a medically induced coma.

“I heard my mama yelling,” said Black. “Everybody was there yelling my name, crying, playing my favorite songs, sending prayers up.”

Although Black was in a coma, he remembered attempting to show everyone that he was listening. He recalled blinking his eyes and knocking on the side of his bed.

The moments right after the gunshot rang out was even worse for the family. Black recalled not knowing what was happening to him.

“I didn’t know I was shot at first,” said Black. “I literally ran like a block or two away.”

Moments after, he collapsed, begging for help while crawling to the back door of someone’s home. A woman first found him and got him towels to wrap around his head.

It was his sister, Macquel Payne, who first found him in the family. A crowd at that point had gathered around him. Her brother kept telling her not to worry, despite the deadly injury.

He was in and out of consciousness on his way to the hospital and upon arriving. Payne then asked her brother to blink twice if he could remember his first pet. He remembered blinking twice back, just as Payne remembered him doing.

He blinked in accordance to a few other questions she had, until one horrifying question. “She’s like, ‘If you want them to pull a plug, if you tired and you giving up, blink once,'” said Black. “‘If you still got some fight in you, blink more than once.'”

Black had started blinking to let them know he was willing to fight. This was despite hospital staff telling the family that they were involuntary movements.

It’s a miracle that despite everything, Black continued to fight, especially with the help of his neurosurgeon.