Miracle Comeback: A Story of Near-Impossible Survival

One of the most amazing medical recovery stories leaves one father a great deal of inspiration and hope.

Rasheed after the terrible near-deadly accident. Learn more,visit: http://www.miraclecomeback.com

(SACRAMENTO, CA) - Bilal Markis had the scare of his life when his son, Rasheed, nearly died.

Rasheed 2 1/2 years before accident

He says it changed his life forever.

"In the early part of the summer of 2009, my sixteen-year-old son Elijah was involved with gangs and, because I was a single father of three at the time, I had to work more and more to keep the bread on the table."

But eventually Bilal did discover his son's gang activity.

"I decided to try to put a stop to it. Not knowing how deeply he was involved or basically not knowing anything about gangs, period, I tried things my own way, but my way ended up driving him to run away."

He says he knew at that moment that he had to do something.

"The first thing I did was to file a missing person’s report at the police station. Having done that, I was myself out on foot searching for him too, but sadly without any result."

Rasheed's Parents

A week later. Rasheed's dad decided to post large pictures of his son around the city with the inscription "Missing."

Two days later, his family felt thankful to God because Rasheed came home.

"Soon after he returned, I called my landlord and told her that I had to break the lease because of what had happened. She understood and less than a month later on August 2, 2009, we moved five miles away into our new apartment. The very next day after breakfast, my sons Elijah and Rasheed asked if they could ride their bicycles around the new neighborhood. I said okay but I wanted them to help me to unpack the boxes when they got back."

After two hours, when they had not returned to the apartment, Bilal Markis started to get nervous and went out to search for them by bus as he did not have a car.

"Once I found them at the area we just moved from, but they disappeared again and that became the night that changed my son Rasheed’s life forever."

Close to midnight this father received the terrible news that Rasheed had been run over by two SUVs while he was riding his bicycle.

Rasheed in the hospital

"I was told by the doctors at the hospital that his chances to survive were minimal and, if he did survive, he would not be the same boy I remembered. All my hope was with Allah now. I could hardly believe what the doctors were telling me. My son had lost one kidney, half of his liver, had broken his pelvis, crushed one lung and lost forty-six pints of blood in surgery!"

At the hospital, Bilal immediately sent out emails briefly explaining what happened and asking everyone to make dua (prayer) for the recovery of his son.

Thoughts ran through his head...Could he survive?

Should I be prepared to let him go?

Rasheed August 3rd 2011 at the accident scene giving interview to Fox6 News

Would Allah hear our prayers and answer them? Allah did hear them!

Allah did answer them and on August 25, 2009, his son Rasheed came home. Moreover, about two weeks later, on September 9, 2009, he went to school!

Today Rasheed is like any other healthy kid his age, Alhamdulillah! (Praise be to God!)

Author Agron Belica, who is Salem-News.com's Boston Bureau Chief, commented on the incredible turn of events that he also attributes to divine intervention, "Brother Bilal Markis is absolutely right, prayer is very, very powerful."

Bilal Markis concluded by saying, "My son carries one big reminder on his chest that reaches to below his navel: a scar to remind him never to forget Who had given him a Second Chance! Amin!!!"

Special thanks to ipresspro.com

Website: http://www.miraclecomeback.com

Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer

Tim King has more than twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. Tim is Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. His background includes covering the war in Afghanistan in 2006 and 2007, and reporting from the Iraq war in 2008. Tim is a former U.S. Marine who follows stories of Marines and Marine Veterans; he's covered British Royal Marines and in Iraq, Tim embedded with the same unit he served with in the 1980's.

Tim holds awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing from traditional mainstream news agencies like The Associated Press and Electronic Media Association; he also holds awards from the National Coalition of Motorcyclists, the Oregon Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs; and was presented with a 'Good Neighbor Award' for his reporting, by the The Red Cross.

Tim's years as a Human Rights reporter have taken on many dimensions; he has rallied for a long list of cultures and populations and continues to every day, with a strong and direct concentration on the 2009 Genocide of Tamil Hindus and Christians in Sri Lanka. As a result of his long list of reports exposing war crimes against Tamil people, Tim was invited to be the keynote speaker at the FeTNA (Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America) Conference in Baltimore, in July 2012. This is the largest annual gathering of North American Tamils; Tim addressed more than 3000 people and was presented with a traditional Sri Lanka ‘blessed garland’ and a shawl as per the tradition and custom of Tamil Nadu

In a personal capacity, Tim has written 2,026 articles as of March 2012 for Salem-News.com since the new format designed by Matt Lintz was launched in December, 2005. Serving readers with news from all over the globe, Tim's life is literally encircled by the endless news flow published by Salem-News.com, where more than 100 writers contribute stories from 23+ countries and regions.

Tim specializes in writing about political and military developments worldwide; and maintains that the label 'terrorist' is ill placed in many cases; specifically with the LTTE Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, where it was used as an excuse to slaughter people by the tens of thousands; and in Gaza, where a trapped population lives at the mercy of Israel's destructive military war crime grinder. At the center of all of this, Tim pays extremely close attention to the safety and welfare of journalists worldwide. You can write to Tim at this address: tim@salem-news.com. Visit Tim's Facebook page (facebook.com/TimKing.Reporter)