“When Bella died, her family opted for a closed casket funeral. During the wake, they started hearing strange noises and decided to open the coffin one more time. What they saw left them in shock.
Bella Montoya was an elderly woman who experienced very few health issues for a woman her age until that fateful day, June 16th, 2023. She was outside in the garden watering her plants when she felt a sharp pain in her chest, followed by her right side going completely numb. She gasped for air and almost collapsed in the garden, but somehow she mustered the strength to get back into the house.
She could hardly make a noise, but she desperately tried to alert anyone that she wasn’t feeling well. Nobody was home except for the cat that nervously climbed all over her body when she collapsed on the heartstone floor. She had presumably suffered a stroke followed by a cardiopulmonary arrest. Her lifeless body was only discovered hours later in her apartment in Babahoyo, a large city in the western region of the Los Rios Province, Ecuador, by one of her five children, together with his siblings.
Gilberto owned a joint business where they sold groceries at a nearby market stall. It was tough to support both their mother and their eight children on that shared salary, but family was everything to them and they were devoted to one another. Gilberto would forever be thankful that he had listened to his inner voice that morning. All five siblings left early that morning to sort out stock for the shop, and the kids were after school. It seemed like another ordinary day.
Out of the blue, however, Gilberto felt very concerned about his mom. Something inside prompted him to go home and check on her. As he pulled up to the house, he started calling her name, but there was no answer. The moment he approached the front door, he knew something was drastically wrong. The door was open, and he could see his mom lying lifelessly on the floor.
As he rushed to her side, he could hardly hear her breathe. She had a faint pulse, and it seemed like she was in some kind of coma. Without hesitation, he picked up his mom in his arms and carefully laid her in his car. He would get to the hospital much faster than it would be to wait for an ambulance to come and pick her up. He immediately realized that time was of the essence. All the time, he kept on praying aloud, ‘Please, Mom, don’t die. We need you.
Nurses and emergency staff reacted promptly. Doctors in the Intensive Care Unit of the Martin Iaza Hospital in Babahoyo, Ecuador, did everything they could. Up to this day, Bella never had to be hospitalized for any operations or serious illnesses.
Her son informed them that she had been using medication for her blood pressure and heart in the few past years, but that was all he could tell them about her medical history. The doctor on duty did his best to resuscitate her, although he had little hope from the start. He saw the anguish on Gilberto’s face and understood that this woman meant a great deal to her son.
It was therefore extremely difficult for him to inform him that his mom had passed away. Gilberto could hardly speak when he phoned the rest of the family to inform them of the horrible news. Hospital staff shared their condolences with the family and handed them her identity documents accompanied by a death certificate. There was nothing else left to do, and they soon had to shift their attention to the next medical emergency.
Nobody is ever prepared for death, but this family was extremely hard-struck by Bella’s departure. She had become their source of strength after their father, Goolo, had died. She was like the glue that kept the family together. Her lifeless body was soon transferred to a funeral parlor, and her body was prepared for the wake.
Her son Gilberto, Barbara, was responsible for much of the arrangements, though he could hardly contain his own emotions. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw his mother’s unconscious body while he drove to the emergency room. Now she lay here in a coffin, breathless yet peaceful. He wondered how he would even have the strength to say goodbye forever to the woman he loved so dearly. With that in mind, the family opted for a closed casket funeral. Proceedings in Ecuador are governed by many traditions and superstitions. As all her family was close by, they could honor their tradition of having a funeral the next day.
Gilberto gathered some of the closest family and friends, and as soon as the news spread, everybody pulled together to support the extended family. Twenty of Bella’s closest friends and family gathered for the somber occasion. The funeral home offered the perfect space to observe an all-night wake for their dearly departed friend. The family knew how Bella was devoted to her faith, and therefore, they wanted to include all the rituals and traditions associated with her faith. It was also an opportunity for all of the bereaved to find closure and comfort after her sudden departure from this Earth.
The first hour of the wake started out with prayers and supplications. It was time to pay respect to the decedent and her family. Before anybody noticed, three hours had gone by. The funeral party would go on to recite the rosary while the priest would read from scripture. Many of the people attending this wake had the opportunity to read their eulogies. As Bella was a former nurse, she had done much to serve her community as a respected citizen of her village. There were many who wanted to pay their respects. Everybody contributed towards the cost of a simple yet respectful service and burial. They desperately wanted to show their gratitude to this incredible woman who died much too soon.
Nothing could have prepared this family for what was about to unfold right in front of their own eyes. Many of the family and friends were highly superstitious, but there were also many of great faith. However, none of them was praying for Bella to rise from the dead. She deserved the rest and honor she earned through a life of service. And yet, at about the fifth hour of the wake, something disturbing happened.
As the family was praying, they heard a strange thumping noise. At first, everyone thought it was their imagination. However, the thumping noise became louder, and they all realized it was coming from inside the coffin. Gilberto responded first, running up to it. Some people at the wake cautioned him not to open the coffin; it could be Bella’s ghost, and no one would know exactly how to deal with that. But Gilberto could not be stopped. In a split second, he realized that his mom could be alive. So, he pried the coffin open.
What he found there filled him with a mix of emotions. One of the people present at the wake recorded what happened next on video. Bella was breathing heavily, and Gilberto could feel a strong pulse. They immediately phoned for an ambulance, only to be informed that there was none available immediately and that they would send one as soon as it was available.
In the meantime, the family lifted Bella from the coffin and laid her next to it on the ground. Despite not receiving medical attention immediately, she was still alive when the ambulance eventually came and only had to spend a few days under close medical supervision.
However, doctors were not sure if she would survive her resurrection and if they would have to declare her dead again after a few days, as the stroke had severely weakened her already frail body. Still, despite her frail condition, Bella pulled through and eventually forgave the doctors who had signed her death certificate. The family was less forgiving and has since demanded an investigation into the practices followed at the hospital to declare a person dead. The board has declined to comment so far as the investigation is still underway, and the doctor that issued the death certificate is unnamed.
If Bella did not have the strength to keep on knocking, the family might have never experienced this incredible miracle. Gilberto and his siblings could not bear to think what anguish their mother must have suffered and what would have happened to her if they had not responded to her call for help. But thankfully, Bella was alive and well and ready to be a part of her community again.
