Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship and the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, has shown some promising signs of recovery following surgery on Saturday, April 1.
The medical procedure was performed to remove a pool of clotted blood on the surface of Colson’s brain, which was discovered when he fell ill during a speaking engagement.
Colson, 80, can now hear, process information, and execute commands given to him. “And that makes all the difference,” said his attending physician.
Colson’s daughter Emily said that last evening, when his doctors were visiting, he gave them a “thumbs up,” to signify that all is well.
Doctors report they will decide in the next couple of days when Colson will be ready to be moved out of the neurological intensive care unit; until then, he continues to be listed in critical condition.
“We are so thankful for the prayers of many friends from around the world. We are seeing hopeful signs of progress with Chuck. We fully trust in our Lord,” said his wife, Patty.
Last weekend was the first time in 34 years that Colson has not spent Easter Sunday in a prison ministering to inmates. More than 30 years ago, Charles W. Colson was not thinking about reaching out to prison inmates or reforming the U.S. penal system. In fact, this aide to President Richard Nixon was “incapable of humanitarian thought,” according to the media of the mid-1970s.
Colson was known as the White House “hatchet man,” a man feared by even the most powerful politicos during his four years of service to President Nixon.
When news of Colson’s conversion to Christianity leaked to the press in 1973, the Boston Globe reported, “If Mr. Colson can repent of his sins, there just has to be hope for everybody.”
