The Shocking True Story Behind Breakthrough Might Make You Believe in Miracles

Born in Guatemala, John Smith was adopted as a baby by Brian and Joyce Smith of St. Charles, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. Devout Christians, the Smiths raised John in the faith as well. According to the bios on the film's website, his mother Joyce travelled extensively, even living in Canada and in Germany for a time, before settling down in Missouri. The Smiths have three more sons, as well as five grandchildren.

The story that would become Breakthrough began on a January day in 2015. As reported to NBC, John and two of his friends were walking on a frozen lake when the ice failed, and the trio all fell into the icy waters of Lake St. Louise. One of the boys managed to keep himself above water by clinging to a piece of ice, and another made it to shore to call for help. John, however, could not do either, and by the time paramedics arrived on scene and rescued the boys, he had been submerged for 15 minutes.

Upon entering John's hospital room, a distraught Joyce began to pray. Within moments, as the staff in the room told Today, his heart began to beat again. And within 48 hours, he had opened his eyes and was responding to the doctor's questions.

The doctors were mostly baffled as to how John survived, with brain function intact. Dr. Jeremy Garrett told the Daily News that the only medical explanation was, ironically, the freezing temperatures of the water.

"For John's brain to have gotten cold to be protected from the lack of blood flow and the lack of oxygen really is a miracle in itself, if that did anything here."

The Smiths, at least, believe it to have been a miracle from God. John had to undergo physical therapy to regain full function in his hands and suffered from a persistent cough for some weeks after the ordeal. In 2017, Joyce published The Impossible: The Miraculous Story of a Mother's Love and Her Son's Resurrection, a memoir based on the experience, which was then optioned for the film that would become Breakthrough.

"There's no really any explanation but how God wanted me to live for a reason so I'm alive now," John told Today at the time.

Breakthrough is set for an Easter 2019 release.