Doctors thought Mason Martin would never make it out of the hospital alive. It was almost a foregone conclusion. A kid like that, with injuries like that. It was only a matter of time.

Mason Martin. A 17-year-old high-school quarterback who was in critical condition a few weeks ago. It all started in Karns City, Pennsylvania, when something bad happened at a football game.

Karns City High School was playing Redbank Valley High School. Redbank was winning. The score was 35-6. It was a bloodbath. And that’s when Mason took a bad hit.

In the third quarter, the referee saw Mason get creamed. Shortly thereafter, the kid was staggering on the field, moving in zig-zags.

“I had to talk to him,” said the referee, “and when I asked if he was alright, he told me, ‘No.’ So that’s when I knew something was wrong.”

The boy collapsed on the field. The game was called off. And Mason was rushed to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh. Mason was suffering a brain bleed and a collapsed lung. It was bad.

Really bad.

“The truth is we need a miracle,” Mason’s mother said. “I’m not saying that to sound grim, but to let you know that we need the strength of your prayers.”

Within days of the event, people were praying. All over the globe, they were praying. The news circulated via social media. People all over the world were offering up prayers for his deliverance.

I wrote about Mason, and within hours, I had received messages from readers in Kenya, Shanghai, Russia. “We’re praying for Mason,” they wrote. One man from Dubai wrote: “نحن نصلي من أجل ميسون.”

Mason began receiving letters from all over the planet. But for weeks, we heard nothing.

Naysayers messaged me. One man in Dayton, Washington, wrote to me, “I wish you wouldn’t give people false hope, prayer doesn’t work. I just can’t stand to see people disappointed by a phony God.”

Another woman wrote in Clearwater, Florida: “I don’t know how I feel about prayer, it’s never worked for me… My husband died of pancreatic cancer, and I prayed, but nothing happened. I’m not saying prayer doesn’t work, but I have my doubts.”

Initially, there wasn’t much to hear about Mason, inasmuch as nothing seemed to be happening. Martin was in bad shape for weeks.

Nearly a week ago, for example, Mason was experiencing abnormal heart rhythms, which is very bad news. The doctors were not hopeful.

Last Tuesday, one doctor moved closer to Mason, to examine him. To see if the young man had already died. But when the doctor checked him, Mason shocked everyone.

Mason’s showed some activity.

“He and the nurse gave each other a surprised look,” the update from Mason’s mom and dad read. “He did the other eye and again looked at the nurse and nodded while she busted out the biggest grin. [The doctor] looked at me and said, ‘Okay, we’ll just continue on.’”

Continue, they did. The prayers did not stop. In fact, they kept coming.

Not long thereafter, Mason’s parents say their son started to improve. “It was as if [Mason’s] body just reset itself.”

Within days, Mason was able to come off most of his medications. Medical staffers reduced his sedation meds slowly on Sunday. And on Monday, Mason was able to breathe on his own for five hours straight.

Doctors say it was a miracle. They don’t understand it. And they don’t see why Mason won’t be able to make a full recovery now.

So for any naysayers who don’t think prayer works…

Think again.