“God Threw Me a White Ball”: An 18‑Year‑Old’s Miraculous Return After 40 Days in a Coma

 


“God Threw Me a White Ball”: An 18‑Year‑Old’s Miraculous Return After 40 Days in a Coma

By Sherry Phipps

On June 17, 2024, 18‑year‑old Fowler High School graduate Diego Diaz left home on his motorcycle and never imagined how quickly life would change.​
A crash on Adams and Academy Avenues in Fresno County left him with a traumatic brain injury and fighting for his life in a Fresno hospital.​

Diego would spend more than 40 days in a coma while his family kept vigil, clinging to faith as doctors warned them to “prepare for the worst, hope for the best.”​
At one point, they were told that if he did not wake up soon, he could be declared brain dead.​

A crash, a coma, and a family who refused to leave

Diego’s father, Carlos, still remembers the call that shattered an ordinary day—he could hear someone in the background saying they were trying to revive his son.​
Rushed to Community Regional Medical Center, Diego was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury and placed in intensive care.

His mother, Jasmine, did what so many parents do in the digital age: she went searching for answers.​
When she looked up “traumatic brain injury,” one piece of advice stood out to her—“don’t leave them alone”—so for 66 days, someone stayed at Diego’s bedside around the clock.​

Doctors continued to caution the family not to expect too much, but Carlos and Jasmine refused to give up.​
Their days became a rhythm of whispered prayers, medical updates, and tiny signs they hoped might mean something more.​

“God, I want to go to my life”

As Diego lay in a coma, his father reached a breaking point.​
One morning, Carlos dropped to his knees and begged God either to heal his son or, if Diego would have no quality of life, to take him to heaven and end his suffering.​

Diego later described what he experienced in that in‑between place.​
He says he saw a light and heard, “Let me take you to heaven,” but he told God, “I want to go to my life.”​

In his words, God pulled out a white ball, threw it to him, and when Diego caught it, he woke up.​
He had been in a coma for more than 40 days; when he opened his eyes and began to respond, his family felt as if the light had finally turned back on.​

Carlos calls that moment the answer to his desperate prayer.​
From that point on, he says his faith felt stronger than ever: “He’s going to make it. He’s going to make it. He’s going to make it.”​

“They thought I was going to die”

When Diego became fully conscious, he didn’t remember the crash or the worst days that followed.​
He learned that doctors had doubted he would survive, yet his first thoughts were surprisingly simple: he joked with staff and asked when he could go home.​

Diego has described himself as “a living testimony” of his family’s faith.
When people ask him to share his story, he answers the same way: “God did it.”​

In interviews, he speaks with gratitude, sometimes smiling as he talks about what others call a miracle.
For his family, the miracle is not just that he lived, but that he is able to laugh, think about the future, and keep moving forward one step at a time.​

From scholarship dreams to rehab—and back to the field

Just weeks before the crash, Diego had graduated from Fowler High School, been baptized, and signed to play football at Arizona Christian University on a scholarship.​
He was standing on the edge of adulthood, with college and sports dreams beginning to unfold. His path shifted from playbooks to physical therapy schedules.


Doctors, rehab specialists, and nurses worked with him at Community Regional Medical Center to rebuild strength, coordination, and balance after his traumatic brain injury.​

In a powerful moment of closure and gratitude, Diego returned to his old football field to thank his former teammates for their prayers and support.​
He walked back onto the turf not as a player suiting up for a game but as a survivor thanking his community.​

Arizona Christian University kept his football scholarship on hold so he would not lose it during his recovery.​
His family says the scholarship is his, whether or not he ever plays football again.​

One day at a time

Today, Diego and his family focus on progress measured not in touchdowns, but in the everyday victories of brain injury recovery.
They say he is making big improvements, and their goal is still to see him fully return to the field someday—this time suited up to play.​

Community stories and social media posts in the Fresno area describe his recovery as a “powerful story of faith” and a miracle the town will not forget.
Diego sees it the same way, insisting that he is simply the picture God chose to use to show that miracles still happen.​

For families walking through their own long nights in intensive care units, the Diaz family’s message is simple: don’t leave, don’t stop praying, and don’t stop hoping.​
Diego’s journey from a devastated motorcycle crash to waking after 40 days in a coma is a reminder that sometimes the story isn’t over, even when everyone is telling you to prepare for the worst.

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