Church congregation's prayer leads to miracles that save life of baby needing heart transplant

Ella Kate giggles as she is tickled by her mom at the Levine Children's Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina while recovering from her heart surgery.(Screenshot/Facebook/Melanie Hillman)

Prayer has a way of turning the impossible into something amazingly and miraculously real.

This was proven once again recently when prayers sparked a series of miracles that resulted in saving the life of a baby girl who urgently needed a heart transplant to survive.

Late last year, doctors at the Levine Children's Hospital told parents Melanie Hillman Leitner and Mike Leitner from Charlotte, North Carolina that their baby, Ella Kate, was "in a race against time" after they found a large mass in the left ventricle of her heart that was killing her, WBTV-TV reported. The doctors said Ella might not make it to her first birthday, unless she received a heart transplant.

In November, her name was placed on the transplant list.

The couple's church, the Abundant Life Foursquare Church in Mooresville, found out about their baby's condition, and on Jan. 29, the pastor stopped the service, asking the congregation to pray over Ella and her family as well.

And then the first miracle manifested. "On our way home from church we got the call that changed our world," Melanie said. The caller said they have "the perfect heart for Ella."

"If this wasn't a God moment, I don't know what could be," Melanie said.

Unknown to her at that time, as the congregants were praying over Ella, another prayer was being said for her baby in the hospital in Charlotte where she was being treated. The prayer was said on the occasion of the dedication of the hospital's new MedCenter aircraft—the same plane that would later pick up Ella's new heart, another miraculous coincidence.

The Leitner couple then learned that the heart to be transplanted to Ella was not her blood type. Nevertheless, the surgeons performed the transplant—the first ABO incompatible heart transplant done at the hospital, and it was a success.That was the third miracle.

Ella Kate celebrated her first birthday recently—with a brand-new heart and a new lease on life.

The Leitners said they are "eternally grateful" to the family of a little girl who agreed to have the heart of their little one who died to be transplanted to Ella.

Just days ago, in an earlier report, another child was also miraculously saved from death after prayers were said for the 22-month-old toddler.

Matty Cunningham was found "blue and dead" floating in a neighbour's pond.

Family members "prayed and prayed and prayed" and "begged God for a miracle," Elsa, the boy's mom.

Later at the hospital where they took him, doctors at first thought the boy was already dead. But when they performed an MRI on his brain, the test result showed no brain damage at all.

Hours later, Matty miraculously came back to life to the utter delight of his family.