September 10, 2026 • 9 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, John Humphrey had been told his heart could stop without warning. Doctors had discovered a dangerous arrhythmia, and surgery was coming. But before the procedure, John wanted one more chance to take the mound with his teammates. His parents watched from the bleachers. An AED sat nearby in case his heart failed. Then John went out and pitched the game of his life, striking out 14 batters and leading his team to victory.
Ryan Buck brings us The Hope Story of John Humphrey, told by John and his parents, Jennifer and Mark. They share the fear surrounding his diagnosis, the prayers that carried their family through it, and how John's journey ultimately changed the way he understood faith, prayer, and the gift of simply being alive.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
This is Our American Stories. And as you know, we
tell stories about everything here on this show. And we
love hearing from you, the listeners. Your stories are some
of our favorites. Our next story is brought to us
by Ryan Buck in Des Moines, Iowa, home of our
great affiliate 1040WHO. It's called The Hope Story of John
(00:40):
Humphrey because it was made for the Humphrey family and
their friends at the Lutheran Church of Hope, their home
church in West Des Moines. We will be hearing from John,
his mother, Jennifer, and his father, Mark. Let's take a listen.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
I've played baseball since I was three or four years old.
I've always loved it. I play it every single summer.
It makes me happy. I feel good when I play baseball,
especially when I pitch. Pitching is my favorite thing about baseball.
My mom is a nurse, and she listened to me
(01:25):
one day, and she thought something was wrong.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
He came in from playing basketball one day, and he
was like, my heart feels like it's beating really hard.
So I grabbed my stethoscope and listened to him. And
I could hear it.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
And so I went into the doctor to get that
checked out. And while he was there, he said, you
have a family history of heart problems. I want to
get you into a cardiologist just to see.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
And Dr. Law walked in and brought his mentor with
him from the University of Michigan. And they both looked
at and they looked at Jennifer and I and they said,
John has a very serious arrhythmia that could take his
life at any moment.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
He said, there's no easy way to put this. It's
not my job to put it easy. It's my job
to take care of you. He said, you only see
beats like this or strips like these on people in
the hospital. And they have these beats like this right
before they die.
Speaker 5 (02:31):
Your son could die at any time. With the next heartbeat,
we don't know. We don't know how he's alive right now.
We've not seen anything like this.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
The doctor said, I want to go in. I want
to put an ICD in, pacemaker. He said, going into
my heart is like going into a minefield. They didn't
really think it would be successful. The likelihood of it
being successful was very low.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
We said, you're having this. He didn't want it. He
didn't want it placed. He didn't want to have to
miss any of his baseball season. The state tournament was
coming up, and he was not going to let his
team down.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
I tried to fight it. I was like... If I
get this, I feel like my dream of playing sports
is just done. I feel like I'll be a different person.
And what if it messes with my heart or makes
it worse? I just don't, I didn't want to have
anything to do with it.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
We let him. I sat on the bleachers holding an AED.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
It was a little bit emotional because we'd gotten the
word that any time this arrhythmia could take him out,
but he wanted to pitch, so we prayed a lot.
We prayed as a team.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
I wasn't worried. I was just really at peace playing,
and I was having just a good time.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
And he went out there, and he went the full game,
won the game from the mound, pitched a two-hitter, struck
out 14 and walked one, and that kid hadn't picked
up a baseball in three to four weeks before that game.
And I greeted him as he came off the mound
(04:24):
and just looked at him and I said, let's say
a prayer because, you know, God just lifted you up
today and you certainly have inspired a lot of people
that know your story. And he just had this big
smile on his face as we walked off the fields.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
I walked with joy. my mom, and we sat on
some benches and just kind of absorbed everything around us.
And I just came to the conclusion like, okay, sometimes
you just have to give things up to live the
best life you can. I can't worry about this. So
I had a lot of people praying for me. My surgeon,
(05:06):
he reads a devotion. His daughter sent him a devotion
every day before he goes into surgery because we got
around in a circle, my family and then the surgeon,
and we all prayed together. And I hadn't read my
devotion yet, but that was actually what I prayed. I
prayed that God just guide his hands through my heart
and just do good things, please. And just hope hopefully
(05:27):
everything works. And so that was just one of those
things like God saying, hey, I'm right here with you.
When I was giving a hug to my parents, saying
goodbye before I went into the operating room. I was
kind of worried and nervous, but then as soon as
I stepped in the operating room, I just was really happy.
(05:47):
It's kind of indescribable. It's weird how in the scariest,
what should have been the scariest time of my life,
moment of my life, I was, I think, probably the
happiest I've been ever.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
It's a great sign to see before going in, and
so John said, walked through the doorway and the last
thing I saw before the door closed was John sitting
on the edge of the bed laughing I.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Just started smiling and I tried to lighten up the
room because those people were probably really nervous so even
when I laid down and right before I went under
I was smiling and I was just like thinking oh
how great is life even though I probably shouldn't have
had that point of view then It was definitely God.
(06:35):
He was definitely holding me up. He was right there.
And it was just a really reassuring feeling like, hey,
I'm here. You're going to be okay. And so I
was just happy. And so he just made me happy.
When I woke up, I felt like God's hand was
right on my chest and he was saying, you're okay.
(06:55):
Everything went perfectly fine. It was the best feeling I've
ever had in my life. It was all encompassing joy
and love and peace. And I just felt Right at home,
I just felt perfect. And so I kind of started
bawling right then because that was a really big, powerful moment.
Speaker 6 (07:14):
The first thing that he could say when he could
speak was, Glory be to God. With tears running down
his face, my husband said, Babe, why is he crying?
Is he hurting? I said, He's not crying because he's hurting.
(07:34):
He's crying because he realizes there is a God. There
is a God.
Speaker 5 (07:42):
And he is good.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Hi, Pastor Mike. Thank you for your prayers. I made it.
God is good.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
Glory to God.
Speaker 6 (07:53):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Prayer is a very strong thing. And so when I
woke up from surgery, I was kind of recovering a
little bit, coming back to my senses. And I just
had another aha moment like, oh my gosh, prayer works.
And that was just one of the coolest moments of
the whole thing because prayer went from like, you feel
like you have to just like kind of say hi
(08:18):
to God or whatever and give thanks to more of
a connection with God and an outreach to God. Even
though it was a bad situation, it brought a lot
of good out of it because I got reconnected with people.
Got reconnected with myself, and I discovered Christ a lot more,
and I discovered life more, too. He pretty much just
changed everything, changed my whole life, really. But he changed
(08:41):
it for the good, definitely, because I think I'm a
better person now than I was before. So, yeah, stick
with God, for sure.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
And you've been listening to John Humphrey, and my goodness,
prayer is a very strong thing indeed, especially when you
get families and communities praying together in unison. for a
common cause. The Humphrey family story, and that is John, Jennifer,
his mom, and Mark, his father, all of their stories,
(09:09):
so many other stories like it here in this great country,
here on Our American Stories.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
¶ ¶
Speaker 6 (09:30):
Thank you.
This is Our American Stories. And as you know, we
tell stories about everything here on this show. And we
love hearing from you, the listeners. Your stories are some
of our favorites. Our next story is brought to us
by Ryan Buck in Des Moines, Iowa, home of our
great affiliate 1040WHO. It's called The Hope Story of John
(00:40):
Humphrey because it was made for the Humphrey family and
their friends at the Lutheran Church of Hope, their home
church in West Des Moines. We will be hearing from John,
his mother, Jennifer, and his father, Mark. Let's take a listen.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
I've played baseball since I was three or four years old.
I've always loved it. I play it every single summer.
It makes me happy. I feel good when I play baseball,
especially when I pitch. Pitching is my favorite thing about baseball.
My mom is a nurse, and she listened to me
(01:25):
one day, and she thought something was wrong.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
He came in from playing basketball one day, and he
was like, my heart feels like it's beating really hard.
So I grabbed my stethoscope and listened to him. And
I could hear it.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
And so I went into the doctor to get that
checked out. And while he was there, he said, you
have a family history of heart problems. I want to
get you into a cardiologist just to see.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
And Dr. Law walked in and brought his mentor with
him from the University of Michigan. And they both looked
at and they looked at Jennifer and I and they said,
John has a very serious arrhythmia that could take his
life at any moment.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
He said, there's no easy way to put this. It's
not my job to put it easy. It's my job
to take care of you. He said, you only see
beats like this or strips like these on people in
the hospital. And they have these beats like this right
before they die.
Speaker 5 (02:31):
Your son could die at any time. With the next heartbeat,
we don't know. We don't know how he's alive right now.
We've not seen anything like this.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
The doctor said, I want to go in. I want
to put an ICD in, pacemaker. He said, going into
my heart is like going into a minefield. They didn't
really think it would be successful. The likelihood of it
being successful was very low.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
We said, you're having this. He didn't want it. He
didn't want it placed. He didn't want to have to
miss any of his baseball season. The state tournament was
coming up, and he was not going to let his
team down.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
I tried to fight it. I was like... If I
get this, I feel like my dream of playing sports
is just done. I feel like I'll be a different person.
And what if it messes with my heart or makes
it worse? I just don't, I didn't want to have
anything to do with it.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
We let him. I sat on the bleachers holding an AED.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
It was a little bit emotional because we'd gotten the
word that any time this arrhythmia could take him out,
but he wanted to pitch, so we prayed a lot.
We prayed as a team.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
I wasn't worried. I was just really at peace playing,
and I was having just a good time.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
And he went out there, and he went the full game,
won the game from the mound, pitched a two-hitter, struck
out 14 and walked one, and that kid hadn't picked
up a baseball in three to four weeks before that game.
And I greeted him as he came off the mound
(04:24):
and just looked at him and I said, let's say
a prayer because, you know, God just lifted you up
today and you certainly have inspired a lot of people
that know your story. And he just had this big
smile on his face as we walked off the fields.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
I walked with joy. my mom, and we sat on
some benches and just kind of absorbed everything around us.
And I just came to the conclusion like, okay, sometimes
you just have to give things up to live the
best life you can. I can't worry about this. So
I had a lot of people praying for me. My surgeon,
(05:06):
he reads a devotion. His daughter sent him a devotion
every day before he goes into surgery because we got
around in a circle, my family and then the surgeon,
and we all prayed together. And I hadn't read my
devotion yet, but that was actually what I prayed. I
prayed that God just guide his hands through my heart
and just do good things, please. And just hope hopefully
(05:27):
everything works. And so that was just one of those
things like God saying, hey, I'm right here with you.
When I was giving a hug to my parents, saying
goodbye before I went into the operating room. I was
kind of worried and nervous, but then as soon as
I stepped in the operating room, I just was really happy.
(05:47):
It's kind of indescribable. It's weird how in the scariest,
what should have been the scariest time of my life,
moment of my life, I was, I think, probably the
happiest I've been ever.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
It's a great sign to see before going in, and
so John said, walked through the doorway and the last
thing I saw before the door closed was John sitting
on the edge of the bed laughing I.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Just started smiling and I tried to lighten up the
room because those people were probably really nervous so even
when I laid down and right before I went under
I was smiling and I was just like thinking oh
how great is life even though I probably shouldn't have
had that point of view then It was definitely God.
(06:35):
He was definitely holding me up. He was right there.
And it was just a really reassuring feeling like, hey,
I'm here. You're going to be okay. And so I
was just happy. And so he just made me happy.
When I woke up, I felt like God's hand was
right on my chest and he was saying, you're okay.
(06:55):
Everything went perfectly fine. It was the best feeling I've
ever had in my life. It was all encompassing joy
and love and peace. And I just felt Right at home,
I just felt perfect. And so I kind of started
bawling right then because that was a really big, powerful moment.
Speaker 6 (07:14):
The first thing that he could say when he could
speak was, Glory be to God. With tears running down
his face, my husband said, Babe, why is he crying?
Is he hurting? I said, He's not crying because he's hurting.
(07:34):
He's crying because he realizes there is a God. There
is a God.
Speaker 5 (07:42):
And he is good.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Hi, Pastor Mike. Thank you for your prayers. I made it.
God is good.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
Glory to God.
Speaker 6 (07:53):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Prayer is a very strong thing. And so when I
woke up from surgery, I was kind of recovering a
little bit, coming back to my senses. And I just
had another aha moment like, oh my gosh, prayer works.
And that was just one of the coolest moments of
the whole thing because prayer went from like, you feel
like you have to just like kind of say hi
(08:18):
to God or whatever and give thanks to more of
a connection with God and an outreach to God. Even
though it was a bad situation, it brought a lot
of good out of it because I got reconnected with people.
Got reconnected with myself, and I discovered Christ a lot more,
and I discovered life more, too. He pretty much just
changed everything, changed my whole life, really. But he changed
(08:41):
it for the good, definitely, because I think I'm a
better person now than I was before. So, yeah, stick
with God, for sure.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
And you've been listening to John Humphrey, and my goodness,
prayer is a very strong thing indeed, especially when you
get families and communities praying together in unison. for a
common cause. The Humphrey family story, and that is John, Jennifer,
his mom, and Mark, his father, all of their stories,
(09:09):
so many other stories like it here in this great country,
here on Our American Stories.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
¶ ¶
Speaker 6 (09:30):
Thank you.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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