Father's Day is especially meaningful this year for the Mountain Family of St. Mark Church in Venice.

Last Father's Day, Dan Mountain, 58, an award-winning advertising creative director and copywriter, was in a coma at UCLA Hospital after suffering a massive brain stem stroke the afternoon of June 3 while he was home alone in his third-floor bedroom.

His wife, Dorothy, had just picked up their seven-year-old daughter, Simone, from St. Mark School that day and arrived home to a quiet house. Assuming her husband had briefly left their home near Venice Beach on a work break from his second-floor home office, Dorothy planned to get dinner ready in the downstairs kitchen. She wouldn't have gone upstairs and found her unconscious husband except that Simone had recently received the new Harry Potter DVD and requested to watch it in her parents' bedroom.

Praying for a miracle

Dan was rushed to St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica where it was determined that he required immediate surgery. He was transported to UCLA where Dorothy pleaded with the doctors to perform the necessary surgery involving removal of the large hematoma clot in Dan's brain to save his life.

"No one gave him any hope of recovery," said Dorothy. "When the doctors walked out of the examining room, no one made eye contact with me." The neurosurgeon advised against surgery, saying that if Dan survived, he would probably spend the remainder of his life in a nursing home unable to breathe on his own, swallow or communicate.

The tenth of 12 children from a Catholic family in Pittsburgh, Dorothy had seen her mother lovingly care for a sister with Down's Syndrome as well as her ailing father before each passed away. Shored by her mother's example and bolstered by her faith, Dorothy told the neurosurgeon she would take care of her husband of 13 years no matter if, as the doctor warned, he would never be the same. "I told the doctor that Dan's heart and soul would always be the same to me," said Dorothy. She prayed for a miracle.

Dan survived the three-hour operation, but remained in a coma. "Every day for three weeks, I was confronted by family and friends saying I had to let Dan go," said Dorothy. Distraught at the thought of Dan living in a permanently vegetative state, Dorothy agreed to take Dan off life support and made arrangements to take her husband home for hospice care.

On June 24, Dan's life support tubes were withdrawn. To everyone's surprise, he began breathing on his own. By 5:30 p.m. that day, he was talking. "Tell my wife, I love her," he whispered.

'Remarkable recovery'

Dan was re-evaluated by the doctors at UCLA, improving enough to qualify for re-hab at the Daniel Freeman Rehabilitation Center in Inglewood. He was paralyzed on his left side, but astonished everyone with his improvements in speech and memory. Dorothy made him a scrapbook of photos showing Simone as a baby to help him recover his memories of the infancy of their adopted daughter.

"I truly believe that God bestowed upon me a miracle," Dorothy declared at a thanksgiving Mass held at St. Mark's to pray for Dan's continued healing. "I am forever humbled and grateful for the magnitude of his love, mercy and compassion. I have my husband and Simone has her father. We have been blessed with new life."

Dorothy expressed her family's gratitude for the "incredible support system" provided by neighbors, friends, family and St. Mark parishioners. She singled out Jesuit Father Richard Dimler, St. Mark's resident priest, for encouraging her "with one small but powerful phrase: 'Where there is life, there is hope.'" After spending six weeks at Daniel Freeman, Dan came home.

During a medical exam last October, neurosurgeon John Frazee declared that Dan had made a "remarkable recovery" and could expect additional recovery. Dan continues to make progress. He undergoes daily physical therapy with the help of an in-home caregiver and is able to walk with a cane. To exercise his mind, he writes in a journal two hours a day.

He gives full credit to his wife for her love and support. "No doubt about it, my beautiful wife and the doctors saved my life," said Dan. "We don't know why we were so lucky. It has made us more resolute about what matters. It's all about love.

"Everyone's been incredibly supportive," he added. "I have a second chance at life; it's a precious and rare thing."

On Saturday, Dorothy is throwing a 60th birthday party for Dan to celebrate his "miraculous fight" and recovery. "Dan never once said 'Why me?' said Dorothy. "He survived insurmountable odds. I'm so proud of him."