Steve Armagost

Fathers dream of walking their daughters down the aisle. Seven weeks before living that dream, Steve Armagost heard the crack.

Steve was in an attic, 13 feet above a concrete floor, when the two-by-four he was standing on broke. “I have no memory of anything after that,” said Steve, who landed head first on the concrete floor.

Steve was rushed to Kaweah Health Medical Center, the only level III trauma center between Fresno and Bakersfield. Upon arrival, the trauma team was assembled and ready.

Within minutes, a CT scan revealed a skull fracture. Dr. Ian Johnson, Kaweah Health’s chief neurosurgeon, advised Steve’s wife, Lori, that surgery would alleviate a potentially deadly buildup of blood between the outer membrane of her husband’s central nervous system and his skull.

“If we didn’t do it, Dr. Johnson said Steve would stop breathing,” she said.

Two hours later, Steve was in recovery; he was released four days, already vowing to walk his daughter, Jessica, down the aisle on Sept. 23, 2016.

Thanks to persistence and physical therapy, Steve made good on his promise, bringing tears to his daughter’s eyes. “It was just a really special moment between me and my dad to have him there and to see him walk on his own,” Jessica said.

Steve tells people he is alive because God intervened on his behalf. “He provided me all the right people at the right time for me to make it,” he said.