Doctors Told Her to Plan Funeral for Purple Heart Husband — Then a ‘Christmas Miracle’ Happened

A Purple Heart recipient who suffered a traumatic brain injury in September has emerged from his coma, in what his wife is calling a Christmas miracle.

Tony Belt, 39, fell 18 feet from a scissor lift 10 weeks ago while working at Katelman Steel Fabrication in Council Bluffs, Iowa, ABC affiliate KETV reported.

Doctors told his wife, Kyli Belt, to plan a funeral in the days following the accident.

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When he lived past the weekend, the medical experts told Kyli her husband would never wake up.

“Last week, he started moving his left side, opening his eyes,” Kyli told KETV.

It’s not the first time Tony Belt’s shown off his warrior spirit.

During his eight years of service in the Army, which included deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, Tony was injured in a tank explosion and was grazed by a bullet while training.

In 2006, he was shot in the head during an incident that ended his time in the military and led him to receive the Purple Heart.

The Belts’ three sons, ages four, three and seven months, are happy to have their dad back on the mend.

“They talk to him and play with him. The baby lays in bed with him,” Kyli told KETV.

“It’s been a long three months with them and it’s been really hard,” she added.

“They went from being told that daddy was going to heaven and they will never see him again to him being here and interacting with them. I just want to change their moods and let them be kids again.”

Doctors at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital don’t expect Tony to regain his ability to speak anytime soon.

Currently, he only communicates through giving thumbs up and thumbs down.

But 4-year-old Eli is confident his father will defy the experts once again, declaring Tony would start speaking by Christmas Eve.

“Maybe he was right. Maybe he will be the Christmas miracle. That’s what he’s been telling me,” Kyli told KETV, whose cameras captured Tony giving her a thumbs up at that moment.

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“Thumbs up? Yeah, that’s going to be your Christmas miracle. Is that what you’re waiting for?”

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