When Brutal Boat Accident Almost Killed Him, ‘God’s Hand And God’s Mercy’ Keep Him Alive

A brutal boating accident nearly took the life of a football coach from California, but it was a higher power that saved his life.

David Beezer, a high school football coach from San Diego, California, was vacationing on the Colorado River with his family in summer 2016, and was out boating on the water, when a sand bar formed just under the surface, which he did not notice and ended up hitting it at around 40 mph, and within seconds, he was in grave danger.

He says, “So we went from just going full speed, you know, with a boat full of people just having a great time, to zero within just a few feet, the full force of the collision was right on my neck.”

He adds, “I’d hit the steering wheel right at my voice box and airway. And immediately I could feel it was becoming difficult to breathe. My first concern was my family and my kids. But the inability to really, I physically couldn’t really do anything. Because I was in really bad shape, I knew that I was in trouble.”

Beezer knew he was not in good shape and felt his airway start to constrict, they were really far from help, where there was no reception and no place to make calls.

The only thing he could do was turn to God as he says, “That was the time that, you know, that you really cry out to God and say, you know, I can’t do this. And I’m going to need You to see us through this. You know, whatever God’s plan was, that I was okay with it and the only way that I could have peace was knowing that I knew Who held my future.”

It was a miracle that his wife was able to call for help. “My wife tried to call 911, and we’ve been in that area a lot and could never get a cell phone to work from that area,” he said. “And we tried many times in the past, you know, to call and check on something back home. And never gotten through, that day the phone call immediately went through to 911.”

It wasn’t much time later that a sheriff’s boat started to head in their direction to get them to the first Responders who were waiting on land, but the boat was still 20 minutes away. Thankfully, another sheriff who was off-duty but closer decided to go out on his boat to find Beezer and get him to land.

Beezer says, “Getting me off the water was the No. 1 key to surviving,” He adds, “I was starving for air and we were a mile from help. If the sheriff, if the off-duty sheriff that came for me had not come, with certainty I would’ve died on the boat in front of my kids,” Beezer said.

He was immediately taken to a Yuma, Arizona, hospital, and managed to text a church friend on the way, to tell him that they’d been in an accident and that while everyone else seemed OK, he was in bad shape.

He got to know later that while his daughter had gotten a concussion, everybody else were fine. But prayers were being said continuously by his family and friends for him. He had sustained a laryngeal fracture, with one of his lungs collapsed and as he fainted in the ambulance, he remembers telling paramedics that he was taking his last breath.

He was intubated and flown to another hospital, where the doctors placed him in a coma for almost a week to give him time to heal. “The first trauma doctor, when I woke up, he looked at me and said, ‘there’s only one reason you’re alive. G-O-D.’ And I knew it. I had been in that ambulance and I knew that I needed a miracle to make it.”

He experienced more setbacks when doctors discovered a growth in his throat when he complained of breathing difficulties while being released from hospital, but as they were preparing him for surgery, the doctors took a last look at it and found it was gone.

They admitted that it was “divine intervention,” citing the prayer warriors Beezer had on his side. “I’m thankful for my friends who rallied for me incredibly,” said Beezer. “Just the prayers of school family, church family just the outpouring of love. You never really realize how much you’re loved until you go through a situation like this.”

He attributes all that he is today to God’s hand and God’s mercy alone which kept him alive.