← The Miracle Files - True Miracle Stories
The Miracle Files - True Miracle Stories
Shot By a Dog: The Miraculous Story of Former LSU Football Player, Matt Branch | Ep. 49
00:27:07
On a cold December morning in Mississippi, former LSU football player and lifelong hunter Matt Branch set out for a routine duck hunt with family. By the end of the day, he would be fighting for his life on the side of a muddy highway — shot...
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- [00:01]
Emily Jones
On the roadside, Matt began to die. He couldn't move.
- [00:05]
Matt Branch
All I could think about was what they'd say in the movies, like, you know, put pressure on it and stay awake.
- [00:10]
Emily Jones
The shot had shredded Matt's femoral artery. He wasn't just bleeding. He had already almost completely bled out.
- [00:19]
Matt Branch
Like, whenever you reach the point of death, like, you know you're about to die. Like, I was there.
- [00:30]
Emily Jones
This is the Miracle Files. I'm Emily Jones.
- [00:33]
Holly Worthington
And I'm Holly Worthington. We're two sisters who love a captivating true story. But we're also seeking more light in our lives.
- [00:41]
Emily Jones
So we're on a mission to find and share unforgettable, uplifting stories of God's miracles. We hope you'll join us on this journey.
- [00:53]
Holly Worthington
Welcome back to the Miracle Files. We might have caught your attention with the title of this episode, but it is no joke. Shot by a dog. You're not going to believe this story.
- [01:04]
Emily Jones
Yeah, Matt Branch is just the coolest guy.
- [01:07]
Holly Worthington
He played football at lsu, so he's.
- [01:10]
Emily Jones
Like this big tough guy.
- [01:12]
Holly Worthington
Six.
- [01:12]
Emily Jones
Six. But he is also so nice and has.
- [01:16]
Holly Worthington
So nice. Yeah, he is awesome. And sometimes this world can feel a little dark, as we all know. But meeting people like Matt, I mean, I feel like it's such a privilege to meet these people. And hearing stories like his story just totally restores my faith in humanity and helps me to know that there truly is more light in this world than darkness.
- [01:37]
Emily Jones
For sure. All right, let's jump in. We hope you enjoy this crazy, incredible story. On a cold, muddy December morning, 29 year old Matt Branch set out for a duck hunt with his brother, cousin and some friends. It was just three days after Christmas in 2018. Here's Matt.
- [01:59]
Matt Branch
We were at Eagle Lake, Mississippi, which is where our hunting camp is and a big family farm over there that my family's been farming for probably close to 30 years now. A long time. And it was a normal thing. Like I grew up hunting and this was just a normal day. Woke up that morning, we had a plan to kind of split up and go hunting a few different spots across the farm.
- [02:24]
Emily Jones
Matt, a former LSU football player and seasoned hunter, knew these Louisiana back roads well. The family farm had always been a big part of his life. Matt chose to hunt in a solo spot off in the distance. It was known to be more exposed, more difficult, but Matt liked the challenge. Armed with his shotgun and gear, he headed off alone.
- [02:48]
Matt Branch
So I was on a four wheeler by myself and was driving across the farm to get to my hunting hole and had some crazy stuff happen that morning. So I was trying to cross a culvert. It just rained the night before and there was a lot of water on the farm. It was real muddy, nasty day and I was trying to cross a C and as I was trying to cross it, a couple of my tires were a little bit too far over.
- [03:15]
Emily Jones
The tire slipped off the edge of the culvert and suddenly the four wheeler flipped into the water below. In an instant, Matt was submerged in a five foot deep canal. The four wheeler crashed down on top of him. Cold water engulfed his body. With the weight of the machine on top of him, he struggled to get out from beneath it. Finally, he got free. He gasped for breath and stood up, then fumbled to retrieve his soaking wet shotgun.
- [03:44]
Matt Branch
So I'm scrambling, trying to get all my gear rounded up and the foiler's just sitting in the water. So I'm in the water trying to fight it, trying to push it back up on dry land to see if I can maybe get it to crank or something because I'm by myself so there's no one else around me.
- [03:59]
Emily Jones
It took everything Matt had to wrestle the ATV back onto dry land. Drenched from head to toe in 48 degree weather, Matt shivered. He couldn't get the four wheeler to start and it was his only ride back to the rest of the group.
- [04:14]
Matt Branch
It's cold enough to where you could begin to get hypothermia if you're out there too long. So I sat around for a minute, had all my gear and made a decision. I was going to take off. Walking towards where the other groups were.
- [04:26]
Emily Jones
At, Matt walked a half mile or more through the muck. Freezing, muddy and exhausted, he trudged on until he found a cypress tree and paused to rest and hunt for a few minutes. Hours later, still determined, he finally made it back to his friends. They were packing up. Matt told them about his rough morning, but had no idea his day was about to get much worse. He and his friends decided to head home.
- [04:54]
Matt Branch
They didn't have much luck that morning and we were kind of figuring out what we wanted to do. So we called my cousin who had the Polaris ranger and he said he was going to come pick us up in a few minutes. And as we're sitting there trying to figure out, you know, what we're going to do next, I look up and there's a group of ducks come flying in pretty close. So I kneeled down and I loaded shell and my shotgun and they flew off and didn't think anything else about.
- [05:21]
Emily Jones
It when his cousin pulled up in the Ranger. Matt laid his shotgun into the plastic cargo bed of the utv and we.
- [05:30]
Matt Branch
Had a black Labrador retriever with us. And we sent him off after a couple of ducks that the other two guys had knocked down. And we were all standing around the Polaris Ranger and my cousin told the dog to load up in the back of the Ranger.
- [05:44]
Emily Jones
And then something happened that seemed so ordinary. The dog jumped into the bed of the Ranger, eager and obedient. But as the dog shifted and circled to find a place to sit, its paws landed directly on the trigger of Matt's shotgun. One second there was quiet, the next a muffled bang that no one saw coming.
- [06:13]
Holly Worthington
Hey guys, we just have to take a moment to share some really exciting news.
- [06:17]
Emily Jones
Yes, we have a sponsor. Angel Studios could not be a better fit. They they're an online streaming platform. They focus on family friendly content and especially cool. They have a show called Miracle which tells real life miracle stories, if that sounds familiar. Can you believe that? Awesome. It's such a good show.
- [06:38]
Holly Worthington
Yeah, it's hosted by none other than Bear Grylls, if you know who he is. I love him. And I love your voice, Emily, but you probably need to work on your British accent.
- [06:47]
Emily Jones
I can talk in a British accent.
- [06:50]
Holly Worthington
Anyway, Angel Studios also has something called a guild members that gives you access to all their amazing shows. Plus you get two movie theater tickets for anytime one of their movies comes out in theaters.
- [07:01]
Emily Jones
So don't miss out. Join the angel guild@angel.com Miracle files to stream Miracle, their new series from Angel Studios. Unlock all eight episodes and be a part of a movement celebrating faith and miracles in action.
- [07:16]
Holly Worthington
That's angel.com Miracle Files and thank you so much for supporting Angel Studios, whose partnership helps bring you this podcast. And now back to our story.
- [07:27]
Matt Branch
I looked down and I saw about a coke can size hole inside of the ranger bed and it was directly next to me. And immediately everybody looked at me like uh oh, like what happened?
- [07:44]
Emily Jones
Matt was stunned. The gun had gone off. He stared at the hole in the ranger bed, but he felt fine. The shot must have missed him, he thought. And then he collapsed.
- [07:56]
Matt Branch
And I didn't feel any pain when the shot went off. So I was like, okay, maybe it missed me or something. But I went to take a step back and I tripped over the ground. And that's when it all sank in. Like I had been shot by the 12 gauge shotgun. It was point blank. It was like maybe 4 or 5 inches from the top of my left leg when it Went off and it was a 3 inch 12 gauge magnum shell.
- [08:22]
Emily Jones
Matt was bleeding profusely. He couldn't move. His friends ran to him. One dialed 911.
- [08:29]
Matt Branch
An operator was like, y' all need to get somewhere where we can get to y' all quickly. It was real nasty cloudy day. They couldn't get a helicopter to us. The weather was too bad.
- [08:40]
Emily Jones
There was no time to wait. The group loaded Matt into the ranger and began a frantic drive to the nearest highway.
- [08:47]
Matt Branch
All I could think about was what they'd say in the movies. Like, you know, put pressure on it and stay awake. Like that was my goal in life in that moment was put pressure on my leg and stay awake.
- [08:56]
Emily Jones
His friends laid Matt down next to the highway, waiting helplessly for an ambulance to arrive. On the roadside, Matt began to die. He felt it. The world blurred. His body grew heavier. An invisible elephant sat on his chest.
- [09:14]
Matt Branch
I'm laying on the side of the highway and I just remember, like the feeling of, like, I'm. I'm not gonna survive this. Like whenever you reach the point of death, like, you know you're about to die, like I was there, I reached that point. And then you start to think about your life and you know, what your. What your life meant not only for you, but for the other people around you. You're family, your friends, your loved ones. And in that moment, all I can say is like, I encountered the truth of my life. And I was not proud of what I saw that day.
- [09:53]
Emily Jones
On the side of a muddy Mississippi highway, blood pooling beneath him, Matt encountered not just death, but the bearing of his very soul. The way it feels to stand before eternity and realize how far you are from the one who gave it to you.
- [10:12]
Matt Branch
And it was that moment, that near death experience, that led me to that point of seeing the truth of Jesus and seeing how far I was from it and ultimately understanding that I need him to save me. Like, I can't save myself. None of us can.
- [10:29]
Emily Jones
The local volunteer firefighters finally arrived and tried to cut off Matt's waiters. When they pulled the boot from his foot, blood poured out like water from a pitcher. His clothing from the chest down was stained completely red. The shot had shredded Matt's femoral artery. He wasn't just bleeding, he had already almost completely bled out.
- [10:52]
Matt Branch
Like I had basically lost every drop of blood in my body and they did not think I was going to make it at that point. So they tried to do a tourniquet. Tourniquet wouldn't work because the wound was so high up and So I had gone 25 minutes of a femoral artery wound that was bleeding profusely. And so I was basically toast at that point.
- [11:19]
Emily Jones
By the time the ambulance arrived, Matt's heart had stopped. He coded in the ambulance and was in full cardiac arrest. For approximately 45 minutes, he flatlined. At the small town ER, a young nurse tech home from college was thrown into chaos while a doctor worked to pump O negative blood into Matt's body. She was ordered to do cpr and she obeyed without hesitation. For an impossible length of time, she performed nonstop stop cpr, refusing to give up. Experienced nurses would have known it was hopeless, would have known better, and may have stopped. But this young nurse tech didn't know the odds. So she kept going and going to the point of complete exhaustion. And amazingly, Matt's heart began beating again. The young nurse collapsed in tears. When the staff finally wheeled Matt away into surgery, Matt's wife Leanna had gotten word that her husband had been shot. With tears streaming down her cheeks, she rode with her brother in law to the hospital. The surgeon got Matt momentarily stabilized, but the circumstances were grave and complicated. The only way the surgeons could stop the bleeding was by cutting off the circulation to Matt's leg.
- [12:40]
Matt Branch
They ended up having to cut all blood flow to my leg off because of the shotgun shell and all the different BBs. They said it was like a water hose where like that was just had holes all in it. They said they'd plug a hole and then they'd shoot out somewhere else. They'd plug a hole and then shoot out somewhere else.
- [12:56]
Emily Jones
As the staff worked on Matt, the anesthesiologist, Dr. Welsh, took one look at Matt and knew his condition was beyond anything their hospital could handle. They needed a trauma center. Dr. Welsh called the University of Mississippi Medical center, but they responded that they had no beds available. That should have been the end of the story, but Dr. Welsh's son worked in the ICU at UMMC. Dr. Welch called his son and told him emphatically, this young man has a family. He's going to die if you don't get him in there. Make room for him.
- [13:37]
Matt Branch
He hung up the phone and they called back and they said, all right, we moved some stuff around. We can get him. So he was like, all right, we got him a bed there. Then he calls the helicopter and the helicopter, he's like, hey, we need to fly from Vicksburg to Jackson, Mississippi. And the helicopter is like, no, we can't fly today. The weather's too bad. Sorry.
- [13:57]
Emily Jones
It was unbelievable. After all this, the helicopter pilot refused to go. But Dr. Welsh also refused to give up. After Moore insisting from Dr. Welsh, the helicopter pilot agreed to attempt a risky, convoluted route. As Dr. Walsh waited on the helipad, it was so cloudy that he could only hear the helicopter approaching, not see it. But the instant it landed, the clouds departed, sunlight breaking through just enough for the helicopter pilot to see his way out.
- [14:30]
Matt Branch
So they get me to the hospital and then my family drives over to Jackson. They actually beat me there. They were having to fly so slow to keep my heart pumping because I was in such bad shape.
- [14:42]
Emily Jones
At ummc, every surgeon Matt would need vascular, orthopedic, plastic, Their aids was already in the building. One surgeon critical to the team who's only there one week a month, was present that very day during the Christmas break, the hospital staff raced Matt into surgery. Leanna, his wife in the operating room, the surgeons could see that between having his circulation cut off and the damage that had been done to Matt's leg, his prognosis wasn't good. The doctors went to the waiting room to talk to Matt's wife.
- [15:18]
Matt Branch
And they got to the point where they had to come out and talk to my wife, Leanna, and they said, look, we have to make a decision. We either have to amputate his leg right now, tonight, or he's not going to make it.
- [15:32]
Emily Jones
In a room filled with 50 loved ones, she made the call. No time for discussion, no time to ask him. Just a decision made in love mingled with immense fear. Take his leg. Save his life. Hours passed, and the surgeons returned.
- [15:52]
Matt Branch
And then they came back out and they said, look, we've got him out of surgery and he's in the ICU unit right now. They said, look, we just want to prepare you like he is. Not out of the woods like he's. There's a good chance he's not going to make it. You know, we're going to do everything we can to keep him alive, but good chances, he's not going to make it.
- [16:11]
Emily Jones
Matt was swollen, unrecognizable, orange skinned, hooked to machines, pumped with blood nonstop. In 12 days, he had over 300 units of blood, blood transfused. That's roughly the blood supply of 30 human beings. And when Matt finally woke up 12 days later, the doctors walked in stunned. It was a miracle Matt had survived. Every doctor there knew his chances of survival had been beyond dire. But what's even more miraculous is how Matt survived. Remember that fall into the canal on his four wheeler? What started as a rotten Day, flipping his four wheeler into the frigid water became the very thing that saved Matt's life.
- [16:59]
Matt Branch
I fell in the water that morning. They said, if I wouldn't have fallen in the water and been, like, soaked and on the verge of hypothermia, which contracted all my blood vessels. I said, if that hadn't happened, very likely I would have fully bled out and just never made it to the hospital all. Or just died before I ever.
- [17:17]
Emily Jones
Matt should have had brain damage. He should have died in the mud. But his body had been primed by that freezing fall into the canal earlier that morning. And then his friends had laid him on the side of the highway, unknowingly, placing his head downhill and feet up, a technique used in cardiac arrest to keep the blood flow to the brain. None of his friends or relatives were medical professionals. They had no idea they were saving Matt's life. And then at the hospital, the poor nurse's tech who relentlessly performed CPR and kept the blood flowing to Matt's brain, every detail, every impossible turn lined up. It was beyond miraculous. But surviving was only the beginning. Matt had lost his leg at the hip, and doctors said he likely would never walk again. But as a former LSU lineman, Matt refused to accept that. Though his recovery was grueling, filled with pain and moments of despair, within six months, Matt was fitted with the longest prosthetic leg his specialist had ever made. What happened next left the specialist speechless. Matt walked.
- [18:28]
Matt Branch
He looked at me and he was like, dude, how are you able to do this? He was like, I've never seen anybody, anybody walk on day one. Never seen my whole career. He's like, it takes most people months or years to learn how to walk on one. And most people never learn how to walk on one. They just, I can't do it. It's so physically challenging. He was like, this is unbelievable.
- [18:51]
Emily Jones
Matt had survived the impossible. He could walk. He could work again. But despite all he'd come through, his soul began to fray and depression set in.
- [19:02]
Matt Branch
I start to realize, like, this is nowhere near what my life used to be like. My life is just different, and it will never be the same. And then I just hit a wall, and it's like, okay, I've gotten as good as I can ever get. Now what? Now life is still hard. Now life is still a mess. Things are still going to be difficult from this day forward. And it was at that moment my strength and everything showed me, like, no matter how strong I am, I'll never be strong enough to get my life Back to where it used to be.
- [19:32]
Emily Jones
Matt had been shot by a dog in the femoral artery. Everyone said his survival was a miracle, but some days, it didn't feel like it. And then a different miracle began to take place inside of Matt's soul. It happened one day while Matt was sitting in his truck, listening to a podcast.
- [19:51]
Matt Branch
It's like God spoke to me in that moment. And I grew up in church. I was always around it, like, I thought I had it all figured out. Like, Jesus, yeah, I got that. I did that. I did what I needed to do. Like, I'm good, but in that moment, I'm sitting in my truck, and it wasn't anything in particular they said on their podcast, but it just hit me out of the blue, like, God spoke to me and just was like, you thought you had this figured out. Why don't you look again?
- [20:20]
Emily Jones
Look again. Matt sat still, listening, wondering what those words meant. Look again.
- [20:28]
Matt Branch
My heart's beating out of my chest. I was sitting in my truck and pulled out onto the highway and drove to my house, got out of my truck, went to my office, and I sat down and I just started typing, Just started typing. And it was like I vividly, like, relived my entire story from that morning when I Woke up in December 28, 2018, up until that moment of me sitting, typing on my computer. And in four days, I never stopped typing. And it was like divine inspiration just, like, poured out of me. And I typed up a book in four days. Just like, boom, there it was, just out, gone.
- [21:11]
Emily Jones
Every moment, every memory, every struggle, every mercy, it all came pouring out of Matt. His story, raw and miraculous, spilled into pages. It would sit untouched for three years before he released it. But once he published his book called Nobody's Gonna Die Today, Matt saw almost immediately why God had wanted him to read, write it. Now Matt speaks across the country. He tells his story not as a tale of survival, but of transformation, of how pain became purpose, of how the impossible became a testimony, and how a moment of death became the birthplace of true life.
- [21:51]
Matt Branch
I was able to get it out in words and then watch God use it to bring other people to him. Because, you know, I get up and I share my story, and I have, like, a testimony, like, mapped out that I share. And I can't believe it, you know, to see people respond to that story, respond to his story, because it's not. I can't claim it as my story because, like, I'm not. I didn't save myself. Like, I should have been dead on that the side of the road that day. And I'm not. Because of him and because of all he's done, God chose to use me and my story and what I've been through to reach other people and bring other people to him. I don't know any other way to put it other than just miraculous.
- [22:37]
Emily Jones
From a duck hunt gone terribly wrong to the razor edge of death, to now fathering his children, living life joyfully, coaching baseball with a prosthetic leg, and sharing his testimony far and wide, Matt Branch's life stands as a witness to divine intervention. Shot by a dog. It almost sounds like a bad country song. But this was Matt's story. And being shot by a dog could have been the end of his story. But it wasn't. Instead, Matt was saved and now watches as other souls are saved and changed by his story, the story of his life, the one written by God.
- [23:20]
Matt Branch
Wow.
- [23:20]
Holly Worthington
We have had several stories about people who have had amputations, but every single time, I'm so inspired by these individuals, how they deal with that adversity, like the faith that they have, the positivity that they have. It's incredible.
- [23:34]
Emily Jones
Yeah. Matt's attitude was amazing. This story actually reminded me of my own story. As you know, when I delivered my last child, I almost bled out and I lost almost half the blood in my body. And in order to save my life, they had to give me four units.
- [23:50]
Holly Worthington
Yeah.
- [23:51]
Emily Jones
And then I think about Matt. They give him 300 units of blood. Like, think about how much blood.
- [23:57]
Holly Worthington
That is. Insane. I mean, it's almost like they were just pouring blood into him as it was pouring right back out of him. Like, so crazy that he survived this. I know.
- [24:08]
Emily Jones
And then I also think when I had that experience, I remember waking up from surgery and I was so cold. I have never been that cold. My body temperature was 91.6. And I remember waking up shivering. My husband came and put his hands on my face and they were so warm. And I just. I learned later they actually intentionally cooled my body down to basically slow the blood down. And to think about Matt in this freezing cold water, like it did the same thing for him without medical help.
- [24:42]
Matt Branch
Yeah.
- [24:43]
Holly Worthington
To me, that was one of the coolest parts of this miracle story because I know he was probably so frustrated when he crashed his four wheeler into that freezing cold water, But I love it when we have these examples of times when bad things get turned for our good. And that crash into the water literally saved his life.
- [25:04]
Emily Jones
He was so blessed to land in the water. And another thing That I also felt like I could relate to with him. And is just that feeling of knowing that you are going to die. I mean, I don't know how common that is, but you and I have both had experiences where we have faced that feeling of like, I might die right now.
- [25:23]
Holly Worthington
Yeah. Yeah. For me, as you know, Emily, I went septic with strep.
- [25:30]
Emily Jones
Yeah, strep.
- [25:30]
Holly Worthington
Just strep throat. I mean, something so simple. And I went into the ER in the middle of the night because I was having a hard time breathing. And they found out that I had abscesses that were closing off my trachea and in the back of my neck, getting close to my brain. And they said that I only had a couple hours to live. And I remember, like, at the time, my kids were still home in bed asleep, and my husband had run over to McDonald's to get a Diet Coke in the middle of the night. Oh, the doctors were freaking out, you know, And I'm sitting here going, I really think I might die. I really think I'm gonna die. Like, when you see doctors freak out like that, you know, it's a bad situation.
- [26:10]
Emily Jones
Yeah, well. And I know that we both had experiences like that. I. I also had that fear, like, what. What do you do? Like, it's not in your control. I mean, whatever happens is gonna happen.
- [26:20]
Holly Worthington
You have to give it to God in that moment.
- [26:22]
Emily Jones
But, yeah, I've also felt that peace. And I have no doubt this was.
- [26:26]
Holly Worthington
A miracle for me. I felt that peace as well. And it was interesting that Matt kind of didn't feel peace at that time. He felt like, yeah, he needed to change his life.
- [26:36]
Emily Jones
He's in your maker. Yeah.
- [26:38]
Holly Worthington
He's like, I got some things I gotta work on. So it's cool that that was also a changing moment.
- [26:44]
Emily Jones
Yeah.
- [26:44]
Holly Worthington
For Matt, where he's like, I need to realign my life with Christ.
- [26:48]
Emily Jones
Yeah, for sure.
- [26:49]
Holly Worthington
Okay.
- [26:50]
Emily Jones
One other thing that I was wondering about. We made sure to ask Matt what happened to the dog.
- [26:56]
Holly Worthington
To the dog? Yes.
- [26:59]
Matt Branch
So the dog. I mean, it's a great hind dog. Black Labrador, retriever. Just beautiful dog. Everybody asked me about the dog, too. That's, like, one of the first questions. Like, what'd you do with the dog? Yeah, no, I let the. Let the dog slide. You know.
- [27:18]
Holly Worthington
I'm glad he forgave the dog. That's. There's a. There's a lesson for all.
- [27:22]
Emily Jones
Me, too. I know. I think about my own dog. And my husband's always, like, so frustrated with my dog because he gets into my husband's dream trash can.
- [27:30]
Holly Worthington
Yeah, that's annoying.
- [27:31]
Emily Jones
And so now I'm just going to remind him, like, it could be worse. The dog could be worse.
- [27:36]
Holly Worthington
He could shoot you. Your dog could shoot you, Christian.
- [27:39]
Emily Jones
I know. Perspective, right?
- [27:41]
Holly Worthington
Right. Exactly. Well, we want to thank Matt for sharing his incredible story with us. If you've enjoyed this episode, please make sure you share it with a friend. Subscribe and leave us a review. We appreciate it. Thank you for joining us. If you have a miracle to share, contact us@themiraclefiles.com or find us on Facebook.
- [28:03]
Emily Jones
We're now releasing multiple episodes each month, so subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and YouTube for amazing video content as well.
- [28:13]
Holly Worthington
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.