MASON CITY - Lois Awe recalls the day doctors in Des Moines told her the bad news. It was Feb. 17, 2004, the day she was told her granddaughter, born just 27 days earlier, would not live through the night.

The child was born with an omphalocele, a birth defect in which the intestines are outside the body, covered by only a thin layer of tissue.

“As family joined us, the doctors said we could go in and say good-bye,” said Awe. “I said, ‘No, you don’t have the final say. God does.’ And we believe in the power of prayer.’ ”

The baby’s skin had a purplish color and her little body was bloated amid a mass of tubes that didn’t seem to be doing much good.

Now, the child, aptly named Miracle, will celebrate her sixth birthday next month, surrounded by a family that believes deeply in the power of prayer.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that her condition changed when we began praying. There is simply no other explanation for it,” said Awe, who is raising the grandchild.

She and her husband Allen have legally adopted Miracle, who is the daughter of Awes’ daughter, Brandi.

Miracle was a patient at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines for five months and underwent two surgeries in her first year and a half of life.

In September she was leading the life of a typical 5-year-old, giggly and wiggly and full of pep and energy when a freak accident nearly took her life again.

Miracle and her family were attending a middle school football game in Forest City on Sept. 29.

With 6.9 seconds left in the game, she fell through the opening between the seats at the top of the bleachers and landed head-first on the concrete pavement below.

Her aunt, Jennifer Awe, was standing nearby when the accident happened.

“I heard someone shout ‘Oh, my God’ and I turned and saw Miracle fall to the pavement. I knelt down and tried to find a pulse and couldn’t find one,” said Jennifer.

Several people attending the game had cell phones. “Everyone called 911 at once so nobody got through right away,” said Cindy Pike, a great aunt who was at the game.

As an ambulance sped to the scene, Lois shouted to the crowd in the bleachers, asking everyone to pray.

“I looked around and everyone had their heads bowed. I couldn’t believe it,” said Pike.

Miracle was rushed to Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa and then University of Iowa Hospitals in Iowa City where she underwent surgery for a blood clot near her brain.

Her grandmother sought prayers through the prayer chain at First Covenant Church and made contact with two other churches as well.

As the days passed, she learned many churches in Mason City had started prayer chains for a child they had never met.

Miracle survived her second near-death experience — and Lois Awe has no doubt as to what made the difference.

As she told Miracle’s story, she opened her Bible to James 5:15 and read, “And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up.”

Pointing to Miracle, playing gleefully on the floor nearby, she said, “And there you have it.”