Among the harrowing details of surviving crashes, dangerous encounters and personal loss are sometimes snippets of faith.
National Day of Prayer is Thursday. The stories of these five people show what prayer can mean to people struggling.
Mauled by lions
Elder Paul Richard Oakey, of St. George, had to recover in a Guatemalan hospital after being attacked by two lions at a zoo in 2011. | Courtesy of Oakey family
Elder Paul Oakey, of St. George, was at a zoo on his preparation day while serving as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Guatemala City South Mission in 2011.
Oakley was on top of a tall concrete wall to have his picture taken in front of a lion exhibit when a lion reached through the cage and grabbed the missionary's right leg, causing him to fall back against the cage. A second lion then grabbed Elder Oakey's left arm with its mouth.
Alan Oakley, Paul Oakley's father, told Deseret News his son battled the lions for about two minutes before he was able to escape the cage.
But Alan Oakley also credited a higher power for saving his son's life.
Two sister missionaries with the group at the zoo said a quick prayer, Alan Oakey said.
"As soon as they said, 'amen,' the lion's mouth opened, and (Elder Oakey) fell back down in a safe area," he said.
Instincts and a 'guardian angel'
Annika Dean, a lifelong Mormon and a returned missionary, was waiting for her bags in the baggage claim area of the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport when a gunman began firing indiscriminately Jan. 6.
Dean told the Church News that she ran behind a cart, laid down on the ground and began to pray because she couldn't exit without running into the gunman's path. Her thoughts turned to her two sons — Austin, 13, and Brandon, 11 — in the moment.
"I will protect you," a stranger whispered to Dean as the gunman approached her hiding spot, according to Church News.
The stranger dropped to the ground and shielded her body with his.
Soon, airport police arrived, the shooting stopped and the suspect, 26-year-old Esteban Santiago, was arrested.
Still shaken, Dean sought out her "guardian angel" — Tony Bartosiewicz, a silver-haired electrician from Rochester, New York, Church News reported.
A mid-air prayer
A Utah skier went viral in January after his video of falling off a 150-foot cliff appeared among national and world news organizations.
When Devin Stratton fell off the side of the cliff, his ski hit some branches, causing him to fall on his back, KSL reported.
He told The Washington Post he said a prayer during the fall.
"I (prayed) in my head in midair," Stratton said, according to The Washington Post. "It doesn’t sound like it in the raw footage because I'm cussing. But in my head, I was praying."
'Praying for you'
Kyle Wilson's wife, who was pregnant, was in critical condition after a car crash that left two teenagers dead near West High School.
Amy Wilson was just five weeks from away delivering her baby when the crash happened.
Doctors opted to deliver the little girl via cesarean section shortly after her injured mother arrived at University Hospital.
Recounting the desperation he felt being out of state at the time of the crash, Kyle Wilson explained how a barrage of support by way of prayer helped as Amy and the newborn recovered.
"You hear about something nice that people are saying, or (they're) reaching out — 'Can I help?' or 'Praying for you' — and it just means a lot. I just tear up thinking about it," he said.
Prayers heard 'around the world'
14-year-old Deserae Turner was hospitalized after being found in a dry canal in extremely critical condition Feb. 17.
Deserae Turner, center, with her parents, Matt and April, speaks at a press conference at Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City on Thursday, April 20, 2017. | Spenser Heaps, Deseret News
Police say she was shot from behind by two 16-year-old boys intent on killing her. Deserae was left in a medically induced coma with the remains of the bullet forever lodged in her skull after the incident.
When taking questions more than two months later, both Deserae and her family described amazement at how support and faith played a role in her continued recovery.
Supporters' prayers were "heard around the world," said Matt Turner, Deserae's father.
"I have felt that my Heavenly Father is with me and has helped me get this far, and I'm so grateful for that," Deserae said.