Despite the advanced training and expertise of doctors and nurses, some events defy medical reason and can be labeled only as "miraculous"...

Dead Woman Wakes After Onset of Rigor Mortis
Charleston, West Virginia: Relatives gathered around the hospital bed to say goodbye to Val Thomas, 59, after she suffered two heart attacks and displayed no brainwaves for over 17 hours, but despite having no pulse and showing early signs of rigor mortis, Thomas remarkably awoke and began to speak just as loved ones began discussing the possibility of organ donation. Amazingly, she had no blockages in her heart and showed no signs of damage from the heart attacks.

Black and White Twins
Birmingham, England: Marcia and Millie Biggs are typical twins -- same curly hair, same chubby cheeks, same cherubic smile -- except that Millie is black and Marcia is white. Although they are fraternal twins, they looked alike at birth, but over the next few weeks Millie's skin began to darken to her Jamaican father's tone while Marcia remained pale like her British mother. Marcia's eyes are blue and her hair is strawberry blonde, while Millie has dark brown eyes and hair. The rare phenomenon occured because fraternal twins come from two eggs being fertilized by two sperm, resulting in a different mix of the genes that define skin color.

Woman Survives Decapitation
Denver, Colorado: When Shannon Malloy, 30, was involved in an accident that sent her head hurtling into her car's dashboard, her chances of survival were slim. Her spine separated from her skull, meaning that all that was holding her head onto her body was skin and muscle. The condition is known as an "internal decapitation," and 90% of people who experience it die. However, within a month of having her skull reattached to her spinal column with screws in her neck and shoulders, Malloy left the hostpital. Amazingly, her spinal cord was not damaged in the accident, and she maintained the use of her arms and legs.

Baby Born Twice
Laredo, Texas: While still in the womb, Macie Hope McCartney developed a tumor that grew to the size of a grapefruit -- about as large as Macie herself at four months into her mother's pregnancy. The tumor was stealing the girl's blood and weakening her heart and had to be removed if there was any chance of her survival. Unfortunately, surgery came with only a 10% chance of her survival, because doctors had to partially deliver the four-ounce fetus -- pulling 80% of her lower body out of the womb -- and quickly remove the tumor while avoiding complications due to fetal exposure to the air. Beating the odds, Macie was delivered -- a second time -- 10 weeks later with a clean bill of health.

Teen Lives 118 Days Without a Heart
Miami, Florida: July 2 was supposed to be a great day for 14-year-old D'Zhana Simmons, who received a transplant to replace her enlarged heart. However, her dream turned into a nightmare when the new heart failed to function properly. Doctors had to remove the new organ, but without another heart available and with D'Zhana weakened from the surgery, they had to come up with a stopgap measure: two artificial pumps that kept the blood flowing in her body for close to four months. The feat was newsworthy partially because of D'Zhana's age and partially because when an artificial heart is used to sustain a patient, the patient's own heart is usually left in the body. Finally, on October 29, D'Zhana received another heart transplant, and it was so successful that she had a kidney transplant the very next day.

Man Holds Own Skull
Calcutta, India: As he worked one day at his job as an electrician, Sambhu Roy, 25, suffered a severe shock from a high-voltage wire, but the truly bizarre event didn't happen until nearly nine months later. That's when a large portion of his skull simply fell off. According to his doctors, his skull had loosened because of a lack of blood supply to that area due to the shock. Luckily for Roy, the skull's inner lining was intact, and he had begun to grow new bone on the affected area, which pushed the loose skull out. About a year after the accident, his skull had hardened back to its normal state.

Window Washer Falls 47 Stories and Lives
New York, New York: In early December, Alcides Moreno, 37, fell 47 stories from a New York skyscraper when a freak accident sent his window-washing platform plunging to the concrete pavement. The accident killed his brother, who was working on the same scaffolding platform, and left Moreno is such a bad state that doctors couldn't risk moving him to an operating room. Instead, they operated on him in the emergency room, leaving him in a vegitative state for nearly three weeks. Finally, he showed signs of consciousness and spoke -- on Christmas day. Less than a month later, he was discharged with the expectation that he would walk again within a year's time. Considering that the death rate from even a four-story fall is about 50%, Moreno's survival, thanks in part to some fortunate circumstances, is astounding.

Girl Born with Four Arms and Legs
Bihar, India: Lakshmi Tatma made headlines when she was born with four arms and four legs, a condition that resulted from a conjoined twin that was born without a head or chest. Lakshmi was unable to walk, and the "parasitic twin" had to be excised in order to avoid future medical difficulties. The limbs were removed and the reproductive system, bladder and a kidney from the parasitic twin were transplanted into Lakshmi in an operation that lasted 27 hours. A year later, she was running and playing with other children like a normal toddler.

Baby Born with Two Rare Conditions Beats 1-in-500 Million Chance
North Tyneside, England: Georgina Winham was born with not one, but two extremely rare medical conditions -- one affecting her heart and one affecting her lungs -- and managed to overcome a 1-in-500 million chance of survival, becoming not only the first person on record to suffer from both conditions, but also the first person to survive the lung affliction.

Comatose Man Wakes After 19 Years in a Coma
Warsaw, Poland: Jan Grzebski was 46 years old when he slipped into a coma as the result of a brain tumor. He awoke 19 years later. Doctors didn't expect him to live more than a couple of years in his vegitative state, but with the constant physical and emotional support of his wife, he lived long enough for the tumor to shrink, relieving enough pressure in his brain to allow him to wake up. Of course, the world was a much different place than when he went into a coma, especially in Poland, which had been under the grip of Communism in 1988. Grzebski was able to enjoy his new life for a full 18 months before passing away in 2008.