Hospice Chaplain, Don Mulford, on End-of-Life Miracles | Special Episode

Summary

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The Miracle Files

Episode: Hospice Chaplain, Don Mulford, on End-of-Life Miracles
Date: September 22, 2025
Host: Radio America (Holly & Emily)
Guest: Don Mulford, Hospice Chaplain, Author, Cancer Survivor

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Episode Overview

This special episode of The Miracle Files explores the mysterious and often awe-inspiring miracles that occur at the end of life, as experienced by hospice chaplain Don Mulford. Drawing from his years of ministry, personal battle with lymphoma, and work with hospice patients and their families, Don shares intimate stories and profound insights about the presence of God, angels, and loved ones in a person's final moments. This episode leans into the idea that miracles are not always dramatic events but can be quiet, comforting, and deeply spiritual experiences—especially during life’s closing chapter.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

What Draws Someone to Hospice Chaplaincy

• Don’s Path: Don began chaplaincy at the suggestion of a hospice nurse in his Bible study—he views it as “just kind of a God thing.” (02:31)
• The Work’s Depth: He finds fulfillment in one-on-one ministry, helping people reflect on their spiritual journey and feel the presence of God.

  "You really feel the presence of God in it. And even if you’re with somebody who’s getting toward their last breath... you feel the presence of God. So it's very much of a spiritual experience." (02:50)

Defining Miracles: Grand vs. Everyday

• Diverse Views on Miracles: Don contrasts his belief that miracles happen constantly with those who see miracles as rare, dramatic events.

  “I’m the other side of the coin where I think miracles happen all the time... [they are] the involvement of God in our life. And that happens moment by moment.” (03:54)

• Personal Experience: When ill with cancer, Don hoped for a clear healing miracle, which eventually happened—but emphasizes that miracles include God's presence and not just physical healing.

Spiritual Phenomena at the End of Life

• Presence in the Room: Don describes feeling a “heightened sense of spiritual presence”—angels, Jesus, and even deceased loved ones seem present as someone passes.

  “You feel the presence, and you just know... there’s a lot going on. It’s not light. It’s intense and there’s a lot of activity.” (06:36)

• Stories of Visitation:
  • Patients often report seeing or speaking to unseen people or loved ones as they die.
  • Don shares that his own mother pointed to a corner, speaking to her late husband.

    “It was the sense of instead of heaven and the other life being far away... it’s more like it’s right here and you’re just stepping into it.” (07:47)

Death as Transition, Not End

• Heaven Is Close:

  “Death is a loser. It’s over. It’s a doorway... you’re going into perfect life.” (09:07)

  • Don sees heaven as familiar, only better—free of all that “brings you down.”
  • Siblings and relationships are perfected, “the perfect sibling relationship, no bickering.”

The Ultimate Miracle: Presence and Relationship

• Miracle Redefined: Beyond healings or visions, Don deeply values the ongoing presence and love of God, especially at life's hardest moments.

  “God is always with us. He truly loves us. ...The ultimate thing we’re looking for is just the relationship. It’s the experience of his presence. That’s the ball game.” (11:35)

• The Prodigal Son Parable: Rebukes the idea that we must be perfect; rather, all are welcomed by God.

  “‘Just come home, you know, we’re good...’ That’s okay. You don’t have to be perfect.” (12:09)

Common Themes at Life’s End

• Every Journey Is Unique: There is no universal experience, vision, or feeling; families often ask why death lingers or why healings don’t occur, but Don points to unknown spiritual work happening within.

  “The deepest part of us is not our soul. It’s our spirit. And God is spirit. ...He’s working with us and providing his presence... we certainly don’t know for somebody else.” (12:53)

• Moments of Love and Forgiveness: Sometimes, families come together, experience reconciliations, and leave with peace.

  “The more that the family can get together, as difficult as it may be, the better, because it’s a very unifying thing.” (14:09)

When Miracles Don't Seem to Come

• Faith Amidst Suffering: Not all prayers for miracles are answered as hoped. Don references “The Chosen” TV series:

  “Because I have a purpose for you not being healed.” (15:49)

• Childhood Analogy: Not getting everything you want doesn’t mean you aren’t loved; sometimes, the answer—like the long-awaited bike—comes differently or later.

Don’s Own Miracle: Cancer Survival

• Diagnosis Journey: Diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (typically terminal in 11–12 years), Don witnessed healings and sought prayer.
• Personal Healing:

  “Finally I got better. I wasn’t supposed to. The doctors kind of believe it. And basically the first doctor I had said it was a miracle.” (18:53)

• Walking Miracle: After scans showed healing, Don has been cancer-free since 2010.

Writing and Reflecting

• Book Inspiration: Don wrote Matchbooks in the Tunnel to chronicle the journey and God’s interventions.

  “I would have these times of revelation of God’s going to do something, God did something. At other times there was darkness and then it wasn’t going to happen.” (21:05)

  • The title references moments of light and darkness, akin to walking through a tunnel with brief flares of light (matchbooks).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Don Mulford on Miracles:

  “Miracles are, I think, the involvement of God in our life... and that happens moment by moment.” (03:54)

• On Experiencing Presence:

  “You feel the presence... It’s intense, and there’s a lot of activity.” (06:36)

• On Nearing Death:

  “It’s more like [heaven] is right here and you’re sort of just stepping into it. It’s close, it’s close.” (07:47)

• On the Ultimate Takeaway:

  “God is always with us. He truly loves us. Life is hard and bad things happen. But the ultimate thing we’re looking for is just the relationship. It’s just the experience of his presence.” (11:35)

• On Prayers Unanswered:

  “The key to life isn’t getting miracles answered... it’s just part of the relationship.” (14:50)

• On Love and Legacy:

  “Her basic last words were, ‘it’s all about love.’” (14:30)

• Regarding His Cancer Healing:

  “Finally I got better. I wasn’t supposed to... the first doctor I had said it was a miracle and said she couldn’t believe it.” (18:53)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• [02:31] Don’s entry into hospice chaplaincy—a “God thing”
• [03:54] Redefining miracles as ordinary, continual events
• [06:36] Describing the spiritual presence at end-of-life scenes
• [07:47] Experiences of patients sensing angels, loved ones
• [09:07] Reframing death as a doorway to perfect life
• [11:35] The true miracle: God’s presence and unconditional love
• [14:30] Last words and love at the end
• [14:50] Why some miracles don’t happen as we hope
• [16:06] Don’s lymphoma diagnosis and pursuit of healing
• [18:53] Don’s cancer declared a miracle by doctors
• [21:05] The story behind Don’s book title

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Episode Tone & Style

The tone is deeply compassionate, gentle, and hopeful—reflecting faith, humor, and honesty about the mysteries of suffering and death. Holly and Emily speak as both curious investigators and empathetic friends, while Don shares wisdom with humility and a sense of awe at God’s ongoing involvement in human lives.

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Listener Takeaways

• Miracles are often quiet, subtle, and deeply relational.
• Death is not defeat for those of faith but a transition surrounded by love and God's presence.
• Each person’s end-of-life experience is unique, but moments of reconciliation and love prevail.
• Prayers for healing may not be answered as expected, but God’s companionship is the ultimate gift.
• Sharing stories of faith and miracles can bring hope, even in life’s darkest places.

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Resource Mentioned:

• Don Mulford’s Book: Matchbooks in the Tunnel: How God Solved My Impossible Problem (Amazon)

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Transcript

[A]

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[B]

That's policygenius.com as we've interviewed people, we've discovered something incredible. Miracles transcend boundaries. In fact, no matter someone's background or religious beliefs, a Newsweek poll found that 84% of Americans believe in miracles.

[C]

But here's the thing. We are not priests. We're not pastors or religious scholars. We're just two sisters who love God and love miracles. So. So we thought it would be fascinating if we sat down with different religious leaders to see what they teach about miracles.

[B]

Welcome back to the Miracle Files. You know, people, when they think about miracles, will often think of something that's really grand, you know, like a sudden healing. But miracles can come in quieter ways, too, especially when it comes to end of life, you know, when someone is preparing to leave this life.

[C]

Yes. Our guest today is a hospice chaplain who has seen countless end of life miracles firsthand. His name is Don Mulford. He attended Stanford University. He was a California attorney, and he also became a Presbyterian ordained minister who served as senior pastor. And he is a cancer survivor who is the author of the book Matchbooks in the Tunnel where he describes his ten year miraculous journey with lymphoma. Welcome, Don.

[D]

Thank you.

[B]

Yes, welcome. So excited to talk to you. And one of the things I really want to know about is how you became a hospice chaplain.

[D]

Well, I was leading this little Bible study and one of the women there is a nurse in hospice and so she said, hey, we need a chaplain in our agency and so why don't you apply? So I did and I got the job. So that's what got me into hospice chaplain work. Just as kind of a God Thing.

[C]

And how long have you been doing.

[D]

That off and for? Since 2011, so 14 years. What I like about it is it is a noble thing, but any ministry is a noble thing. What is meaningful for me is I like the intimate questions that go deep into the person's soul about how are they doing with God, how are they doing on their spiritual journey. So you really feel the presence of God in it. And even if you're with somebody who's getting toward their last breath, so you're not really talking, you feel the presence of God. So it's very much of a spiritual experience. So it's very powerful.

[C]

I imagine it's more like one on one ministry versus just speaking to a congregation of people. You really get to know someone intimately, a lot more intimate. One question I would have, like, since we are a podcast about miracles, is how has working on with hospice, working with patients as they near the end of their life, how has that kind of defined the word miracle for you? Like how has that changed the way you think of miracles?

[D]

Well, the meaning of miracle is. Is a moving target. I mean, nobody truly tend to find it. Well, I mean, you. Yeah, your podcast gives you the opportunity to hear all these different versions of it, which you should write a book about it eventually with what you've learned because. Because you, you know more miracles than the great and the vast majority of people do just by talking to the people about it. So I have a friend who's a great scholar and has written a lot of books, Christian leader, and he wrote a book about miracles. And he believes miracles are very rare. You know, it's some big dynamic bolt of lightning thing. And I'm the other side of the coin where I think miracles happen all the time. Miracles are, I think, the involvement of God in our life. And that happens moment by moment. Yeah. So I initially, when I was sick, you know, wanted a miracle. You know, I wanted to get well. So I was clear what the miracle was. I wanted my cancer, which was not supposed to get well, to get well. So if it did and it did, that's a miracle. But a lot of times miracles, those kinds of miracles don't happen. You know, you're praying for healing and we got a bunch of people praying and you've seen other people get healed and this person you love does not get healed and no miracle. And so what do you do with that? And to realize that it's more in the context of the relationship with God that Jesus came to bring the kingdom of God here, the kingdom of God is at hand. So in other words, he's bringing himself here, where he has. Miracles are. Because he does. You know, anything's possible for God. So therefore, in hospice work, when I'm there, we're not talking, but you're in this spiritual place. Angels are in the room. You know, God's in the room. Jesus in John 14 says, I come personally to take you. You know, Jesus is in the room. Clearly, that's a miracle, but you can't point at it, but you just know it.

[B]

So if you could go more into the experiences you've had with people on hospice where you felt angels or maybe their loved ones, maybe relatives in the room, how has that been?

[D]

Because of the nature of the work, because we're around it all the time. We have that heightened sense of spiritual presence. Whatever the people's faith is, you get used to it all the time in the nature of hospice work. And also, there's a depressive side to it. People, you know, are dying and die. Yeah.

[C]

Hard.

[D]

Yeah. So when you're there at the scene, you feel the presence, and you just know. In fact, you know, I've actually called churches to pray for us during one of those times, and they say, you know, we're praying somewhere else over here, but we feel angels are in the room. So I've been told that by somebody who's not there but can sense it, you know, who's a more prophetic and has that gift. So it's sort of a heaviness. It's a. There's just a lot going on. You know, it's not light. It's. It's intense and there's a lot of activity. Yeah.

[B]

We have a cousin, actually, who died of brain cancer. And I remember when she was, like, really close to the end, I remember she told her mom that there were all these people, and. Well, she said I. She thought they were doctors and nurses all in the room because she said there were all these people in the room wearing white. And back then, you know, doctors and nurses wore white, and her mom realized that they were just surrounded by angels, by heavenly beings, you know.

[D]

Yeah, that's happened often where the patient will be talking to somebody that you can't see, but my mother kind of talk at the end, but she was pointing toward the corner where nobody was saying, look over there. I mean, my dad had gone before. I think it was my dad. I talked with the doctor who worked at the. The place where my mom was in, the facility she was in. She said it happened all the time. That there typically the wife survived the husband. So the wife returned to some corner of the room where nobody didn't start talking to her husband casually and she say, bob, you know, be along, relax. And it was the sense of instead of heaven and the other life being far away that you're going to this. It's more like it's right here and you're sort of just stepping into it. It's close, it's close. So it can be angels or it can be other family members who've gone on before. I've had experiences of family members who've gone on before. You know, communicate with me.

[B]

Does it feel like they're just coming to take them home? Is that kind of the impression you get?

[D]

So it says in John 14:6. 14:1 6, Jesus says, I go to a place for you and then I personally will come and take you to be with me where I am. So that's a big deal because it's not the touch by an angel TV show where the angel comes, it's Jesus himself comes. And so you know that you're in really good hands. It's. He's there, but it's complete game changer. You know, death, death is, is a loser. It's over. It's a doorway. Forget about it. You're going into to perfect life. Everything. This life is a warm up. And so heaven is a lot like this life. It's just that all the stuff about you that's lousy is gone. And so, you know, you're born in this wonderful body and you grow into that. Well, that's in heaven, you know, and all the stuff that brings it down doesn't affect you. And so you have all these people running around. They're all great. So it's like, you know, you have the. You two are sisters, right? Yes, yes, yes. So you have the perfect sibling relationship, you know, no more that my two sisters and they grew up in the same room.

[C]

No bickering.

[D]

Well, yeah, there's no. I wasn't allowed in the room. You know, we never do.

[B]

We never, never.

[C]

Yeah, my friend actually passed away of cancer and he had an experience right before he died where he was just sitting in a chair and he looked up and saw his dad sitting in the room with him. And his dad didn't say anything and it was just, he just saw him sitting there and. And I just kind of tend to think that that is just a little gift that God gave him to know. Like, you know, that you're not just going to disintegrate into the ground, and that's the end.

[D]

Exactly. And I've been around it so much now that I talk about it casually, but I'm trying to say it to affirm people because normally you have, like one event in your life where that kind of happened. You think, well, baby, is my imagination or something. And it's not. My wife's mother was surrounded. She had this big bedroom and it was packed with people. She's talking to these people and we're, you know, there's no room.

[C]

And it's amazing that you have had this experience to be with all of these various people as they're going through these experiences. I imagine you would have a better grasp on what it's like to leave this earth than most people would.

[D]

Yeah, it's like anything. It's just familiarity. Yeah. The ultimate takeaway for me after being around all this for a long time and losing people I love as well, is God is always with us. He truly loves us. Life is hard and bad things happen. But the ultimate thing we're looking for is just the relationship. It's just the experience of his presence. That's the ball game. Then everything else kind of works off with that. So you want miracles.

[B]

That's the true miracle.

[D]

That's the true miracle. It's the ultimate miracle. So you have a big problem with whatever, then. Yeah, bring it to God. He loves you. And Jesus's favorite parable was the prodigal son. And the whole essence of the prodigal son is the father coming to both sons, going out to both sides and saying you have opposite lifestyles. You both got a problem. I don't care. Just come home, you know, we're good, and then, you know you're going to live the rest of your lives here. It's not going to be perfect. That's okay. You don't have to be perfect.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

Doing. Working in fields, and you don't have to be perfect. Not doing anything wrong. Just.

[B]

Do you see, like, any common themes in what people say or feel right before they pass?

[D]

No.

[B]

Really? All different.

[D]

Everybody's kind of different. All different. People ask often, you know, why doesn't God take her? Because she's suffering. So. And, you know, they're just lying there for six months. And he's like, why doesn't God take her? Well, yes, God's doing things in the depths of their soul. The deepest part of us is not our soul. It's our spirit. And God is spirit. We have spirit. That's where we know him. So he's working with us and providing his presence and doing things to grow us and to enhance our relationship that we know nothing about, we barely know for ourselves, but we certainly don't know for somebody else. So that's why that kind of stuff can happen. And it's okay because he's there and he's taken her to paradise and they're going to be fine. It's just a complete game changer.

[C]

So do you feel like as people are passing away, that they're maybe a little closer to God, maybe a little bit more humble? Do you see situations where families maybe have more forgiveness, some reconciliations, some kind of really positive turnaround moments as they're, like, leaving?

[D]

Yeah, sometimes. Yeah. All of those things happen. Every family's different.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

Of course, the more that the family can get together, as difficult as it may be, the better, because it's a very unifying thing. So just love each other there, and it enhances the experience of the presence of God and giving you peace during this difficult time.

[B]

Yeah. I have another friend that passed away from pulmonary fibrosis, and her basic last words were, it's all about love.

[D]

Yes, exactly. Exactly.

[B]

So how would you answer somebody then who says, why didn't we receive the miracle that we prayed for? You know what I mean?

[D]

The key to life isn't getting miracles answered. If you got all the miracles, you'd have a perfect life, you know? Yeah, you're not going to get all the miracles. But, like in the Chosen, where these guys are just, you know, tripping along, and there's that great scene in the show with the guy with the limp, little James comes to Jesus, why won't you heal me? And he says, because I have a purpose for you not being healed. Yeah. And. And so that's the. It's not in any way guilt or. It's not in any way to shame us or to make us feel lesser than something or we shouldn't ask or anything. It's just part of the relationship. Yeah, I. When I was growing up, I wanted a bike. My friends had bikes, and so we couldn't afford a bike. And so they got this really crummy bike. And my sisters painted it up and tried to make it look good, but it was lousy, so I didn't get the bike. But two years later, I got the bike.

[C]

You know, kind of like with the prodigal son. He's gonna make it right fair in the end.

[D]

Exactly.

[C]

So before you mentioned that you had experienced your own miracle with your battle with cancer. Will you give us just a little bit of the background on that and the miracle that you experienced?

[D]

Yeah, I had changed careers, and so I had to start all over and had my career in place. Finally, it was on my way. And then I got diagnosed completely out of the blue, which is a story in itself with non Hodgkin's lymphoma, which typically lasts 11 or 12 years, and then it's terminal. You do not escape it. And the years before, just preceding that, for a couple years, I had been living in Los Angeles and was going to this little church, and there was a minister named John Arnott, who was the pastor at Toronto Vineyard. I don't know if you've heard of that church, which is by the Toronto airport in the 90s. And they had massive miracles going on there. And so he was speaking at this little church, and there's only like 200 of us there, and he gives us a little talk about Jesus, and then he said, okay, let's do healings. Anybody has bad heels, you know, who prays for heels? And so two people come up, and one was this woman in her 40s, and she had these big heavy boots on, and she was in tremendous pain. She had been in a climbing accident, smashed her heels. So she stops and he just. No big thing at all. I mean, it's just. It was like he was shaking hands with her. He puts his hand on her head, says, in Jesus, name be healed. And she starts leaping around the room. I was like, what is going on? You know, I've never seen this ever. And so I looked at the people she came with to see if she was just sort of this prop, which I thought would be pretty stupid. But the people she was with were amazed, you know. And so she was healed. And so I knew that healing happened. So I get diagnosed, I go to the doctor for the first time, and he says, this is what you have. You'll live 11 or 12 years. I thought, you know, it's really presumptuous, and you don't know how long I'm going to live. You're not God. And so I know the medicine says that. And from then on, I started to sort of go for finding healing. And for the next 10 years, which it took that long, I had these several events that were miraculous. I would see guys pray over audiences, and 30 rows of people were pushed back, and they kind of get up. And so I thought, I want that. I know this is real. I know God can do anything. So finally I got better. I wasn't supposed to. The doctors kind of believe it. And basically the first doctor I had said it was a miracle and said that she couldn't believe it. This is at Stanford and Palo Alto.

[B]

So your scans just came back completely clear. Is that what happened?

[D]

Yeah, it was just gone and it's been gone ever since. That was 2010 at that end. Wow.

[C]

So you're a walking miracle.

[D]

I'm a walking miracle.

[C]

Wow, that's amazing.

[B]

So what made you want to write a book then? Was that what caused you to write a book?

[D]

Yeah, I thought that it should be told. Some people told me to read it. And it's a really nice chronology of all these things where clearly God intervened here, did something, changed something. So that was the time of God doing stuff dramatically in my life. And then when it was all over, God moved me into hospice work. I thought I was going to go out and be this big speaker, you know, and maybe I'd heal and all these people would be surprised. Instead, I'm in hospice work where you don't. Unless they ask, you can't tell them about your faith background. So I had to live out God's presence quietly instead of dramatically equally as important.

[C]

So, yeah, I'm sure that you have been a great blessing in many people's lives and thank you. Thank you for sharing your miracle with us. Will you tell us what the name of your book is and where we can find it?

[D]

Sure. It's just a self published book on Amazon. It's called Matchbooks in the Tunnel. How God Solved My Impossible Problem. It you see the boy walking into the tunnel with a light. When I was about 8, my dad was in politics and had. Back then you had matchbox because every smoke. So I would take a bunch of these matchbooks and there's a tunnel that ran under our proper, our streets and I would light up a matchbook and could, you know, so all the matches would light at once and I could see for a while and then it would flicker and go out and then I'm in the dark so I'd light another one. I could see again. I keep going. And that was what the experience was like. The I would have these times of revelation of God's going to do something, God did something. As other times there was darkness and then it wasn't going to happen. So I love that.

[B]

I love that too.

[C]

That's a really cool analogy.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

Awesome. Well, Don, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on, you know, your experiences with hospice as well as your, you know, thoughts on miracles and stuff.

[B]

Your own experience.

[C]

Yeah, it's been great.

[D]

So thank you. Thank you. Well, God bless you, too.

[B]

Well, thank you.

[D]

God bless you. Holy Spirit, be blessed, you guys.

[B]

Oh, thank you so much. And truly, we do believe that Jesus is the miracle, so absolutely. We appreciate you sharing that. Thank you for joining us. If you have a miracle to share, contact [e-mail] or find us on Facebook.

[C]

We're now releasing multiple episodes each month, so subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and YouTube for amazing video content as well.

[B]

Join us next time as we discover more of God's miracles. And don't forget to look for his light in your own lives.