Diane Holtz/Key photo Dawn Duke, a former student at St. Patrick School in St. Joseph, works with third-graders in Kenetha Weidmaier's class.

On April 16, 26-year-old Dawn, alone in her car, was struck by a drunk driver. Although she had no broken bones and few lacerations, Dawn suffered severe head trauma and faced a long road to recovery. Along with the medical community's efforts, she believes prayer, determination, and loving support of family, friends and strangers helped her get where she is today.

"It's a miracle that I'm here," Dawn said in a soft voice that has not yet recovered its full strength. "I attribute it to my faith and my family."

"I can't imagine going through something like this and not having the faith and support of Church, relatives, and friends," Carole Duke, Dawn's mother told The Catholic Key. "If we just mentioned something we could use, people came through."

The family has no doubt that prayer saved Dawn's life and brought about her recovery. Mearl O'Dell, Dawn's fianc‚, jokes that God probably got tired of all the prayers for Dawn and decided to heal her just so people would leave Him alone.

Within hours of the accident, Dawn was listed on the prayer chain of her parish, St. Patrick, and on the prayer list of several area Churches of various denominations, her parents said. Six priests and several ministers visited soon after the accident. Father Vincent Rogers, pastor of St. James Parish in St. Joseph, spent the first night at the hospital with the family.

"Immediately for me things were thrown in a tailspin," O'Dell said. "It was hard seeing Dawn like that. Father Rogers brought calm into the storm."

In the beginning, doctors at St. Joseph's Heartland Regional Medical Center offered little hope for Dawn. They did not expect her to live through the first 48 hours, and even when she did, they warned the family that a full recovery was rare.

"I think that's when my stubbornness kicked in," said Dawn.

Four days before the accident, Dawn's fiance, O'Dell, received the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and first Eucharist at St. Patrick's Easter Vigil Mass. Dawn was his sponsor, and gave him a rosary that had been blessed by the Pope.

In the days following the accident, Dawn's cousin taught O'Dell how to pray the rosary, and he said he ended each day with a prayer book or Bible. He spent most of the first two weeks after the accident at the hospital, sleeping on a mattress on the floor of a meeting room.

Throughout the ordeal, O'Dell's faith never wavered. "I always said she'd pull through. Dawn has a strength in her I noticed ever since we've been dating," he said. "She's a real strong person. She could do anything she set her mind to do, and she brought that out in me."

The most difficult moment for Byron Duke, Dawn's father, came several hours after the accident, when family was allowed to see her for the first time. "I couldn't stay in the room. I just couldn't see my baby girl look like that."

Even after 48 hours passed, the trying vigil continued. Dawn was comatose for almost a month, and family and friends gathered, watching for any movement or improvement, said Carole.

And for the first two weeks, almost every evening brought a setback, it seemed. "That was hard." said O'Dell. "You'd build up hope and then about every night, something would happen."

But through it all, friends and fellow parishioners came by the hospital, offering support, prayers, and anything that was needed. The family noted that they rarely had to buy food - people were always bringing them meals and snacks. Dawn's visitors signed a log, and some days, over 100 names were listed.

O'Dell's and Dawn's employers were extremely supportive, they said. He is a city police officer, and she worked at System and Services Technologies Inc. O'Dell was able to take a personal leave, and fellow officers told him he could have their vacation time if he needed it.

Although the days of hospitalization blur and specific dates are forgotten, her loved ones clearly recall the triumphs of Dawn's recovery. "I was in the room when I first saw her open her eyes," said O'Dell. "The next thing I know, I was in the hall crying. I was happy. It was wonderful."

Dawn was released from St. Joseph hospital in early May and was transferred to Trinity Lutheran's Rehabilitation Institute in Kansas City.

Although she had opened her eyes several times, Dawn was still unable to focus when she was transferred. But the family noticed improvements soon after. O'Dell remembers once when he winked at her, and was surprised when she winked back. "I made her wink at everybody that night," he said.

Her wink became Dawn's means of communicating "yes" before she was able to speak.

"I made them (the therapists) work for their money," said Dawn. The therapists told family members they were amazed at her progress. She had to relearn everything - reading, writing, speaking, standing and walking.

Her mother was there when Dawn took her first steps at the institute. "I don't think I was that excited when she learned to walk the first time," Carole said.

But for Dawn, the greatest triumph was coming home June 19. And when she had the opportunity to drive the first time, she said, "I felt like I was 16 all over again."

The day after her release from the Rehabilitation Institute, friends raised $7,000 at a benefit volleyball tournament and St. Patrick Church raised $1,000 at a rummage sale. When she attended Mass for the first time June 27, she received a standing ovation.

Dawn was a graduate of St. Patrick School, and although few current students knew her, they knelt in the hallway and prayed for her every day throughout the spring, and made her cards and posters. Students had been collecting coins to buy software, but they immediately offered to give the money to Dawn. When the jar was full, they gave her $541.

Before Dawn returned to work Oct. 26, she came to St. Patrick School several times and helped students with special projects. "I had told and told the kids of the power of prayer, and they saw it in Dawn," former acting principal Karan Szczepanik said. "She should never have survived."

The students hugged Dawn, and Szczepanik told them, "Go home and tell your mom and dad you hugged a miracle today."

Dawn's physical therapy as an outpatient ended on Sept. 24. Today, under O'Dell's guidance, she is lifting weights and beginning to jog. She thinks her penmanship needs work.

Her original wedding date, Sept. 12, has passed, and Dawn and her mother are busy making new wedding plans for June 5, 1999. Remembering the new date, however, is a struggle. Dawn writes a lot of notes to herself to compensate for short-term memory loss.

Lately, she has been looking through photographs from the past three years, trying to recall events she has no memory of. And although she recognized co-workers and called them by name when she returned to work, Dawn does not remember working there. Doctors say time will tell if her memory will improve.

But for the most part, her recovery is complete and the family is closer than ever. O'Dell said he already feels like a family member, even though he and Dawn are not yet married.

"We're looking forward to the future," he said.

"They (Dawn and O'Dell) have taught us something about perseverance and faith, and how a community call pull together," said Szczepanik. "You don't often see a modern-day miracle, but this was one."