Pastor Declared Dead Moves His Feet Just Before His Organs Are Harvested

A North Carolina pastor who was declared brain dead by doctors showed movement in his body right before his organs were harvested. Ryan Marlow, 37, had slipped into a coma at the hospital in Durham, with doctors having no hopes for his recovery.

Marlow, a father-of-three and a pastor at the Grace Baptist Church was rushed to Duke University Hospital in late August after contracting listeria, a potentially deadly foodborne bacterial illness. The infection caused swelling in his brain, which sent him into a coma, the New York Post reported.

Doctors told his wife, Megan Marlow, on Aug. 27 that Ryan had suffered a "neurological death," something that's only pronounced under North Carolina Law when there's no brain activity.

"(A nurse) said, 'Your husband has passed,'" Megan told local news outlet WXII12. "Those were the words that were used."

Ryan was kept on life support to keep his heart pumping so that his organs can be surgically procured. As the process to find donor recipients for his organs began, a devastated Megan spent two days mourning her husband and comforting their three little children, all of whom were under the age of six.

However, Megan said she received a call from the doctor informing her that an expert panel was called in to look into a peculiarity in Ryan's case.

"They said my husband did not in fact suffer neurological death, but that, he was not brain dead," she added.

Megan was told that her husband had suffered traumatic brain damage and they had to change his date of death from Aug. 27 to Aug. 30, when his life support would be turned off.

"I said, 'He's still pretty much brain dead right?' and I was told yes," Megan told the outlet.

The next morning, Megan arrived at the hospital to say one final goodbye to her husband before his organs were to be harvested. As Ryan was scheduled to be taken into the Operating Room (OR), Megan's niece told her that while she was showing him videos of his family, Ryan's feet moved.

Megan rushed to her husband's room only to learn that she had very little time with him.

"I went into the hallway [...] literally the OR team was ready to take him, and I tell the nurse 'I need tests done now to see if he's brain dead,'" Megan said in a Facebook live stream, as reported by the outlet.

As it turns out, blood was flowing through Ryan's brain, Megan revealed. The doctors told her that Ryan was in a deep coma and will not be accepted back as a patient at the DUH.

"They think the injury is so severe that he won't turn around," she said in a follow-up post meant to share updates on the pastor's medical condition.

The family is now clinging to hope for a second miracle. "He may still go to glory yet,[But] this is beyond medical help, this is in the Lord's hands," Megan said in the newest Facebook post.