Editor’s note: This video contains descriptions of a child passing away and may not be appropriate for all audiences.
On November 22, 2016, Sunny Mahe, wife of former BYU standout football player Reno Mahe, was washing dishes in her kitchen when the friend of her 3-year-old daughter Elsie tapped her and said, “Elsie’s hanging by the string.” Little Elsie had gotten tangled in the family’s window blinds and wasn’t breathing. She passed away about a week later as a result of the tragic accident.
“If that’s the only part that you know of our story, it just sounds like a terrible tragedy, but we also got to see so many miracles along the way,” Sunny Mahe says in the Church’s newest “His Grace” video.
You may also like: The miracle of Elsie and the pink Christmas tree
Sunny proceeds to recount the miracles her family witnessed surrounding the incident that changed the Mahe family forever. She explains that despite having no training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), by the time the paramedics arrived, she had restarted Elsie’s heart and her little girl was beginning to breathe on her own. The paramedics were also able to arrive quickly, due to them being on break near the Mahe’s home when the call came in.
“So with the way that those miracles all fell into place, we felt like we had every reason to hope for the best possible outcome—a miraculous healing,” Sunny recalls. But her daughter’s scans showed very little brain activity, and Sunny was left wondering why she had been able to save her.
The answer soon came as Elsie’s organs were able to save the lives of five other people.
“That miraculous healing, it wasn’t meant for Elsie, but it would come from Elsie for others—that it would be the answer to someone else’s fervent prayers,” Sunny says.
Watch the new "His Grace" video here.
