Gazette photo by Andrew Wallmeyer Alan and Raleane "Rae" Kupferschmidt in the living room of their Lake Elmo home Sunday afternoon. Rae was pronounced brain dead on Jan. 17 but has since mounted a "miraculous" recovery and could return home from the hospital this week.

LAKE ELMO - Four weeks ago, Alan Kupferschmidt was planning his wife's funeral. Today, he is planning her homecoming party.

Doctors pronounced Raleane "Rae" Kupferschmidt brain dead on Jan. 17, two days after a massive cerebral hemorrhage put the 65-year-old into a coma. In her living will, she told her family she did not want to live the last years of her life as a vegetable, so after saying their tearful goodbyes they reluctantly told doctors to remove her breathing tube and waited for her to die.

"Family was all around her. The minister from the church was there, and we had a small prayer service. We had already begun the grieving process - my mom was gone," Lisa Sturm recalled Sunday.

But Rae Kupferschmidt's heart kept beating.

Doctors told her family it could take anywhere from a few hours to a few days for her to pass away, so they decided to take her home and make her as comfortable as possible for as long as she lived.

That was all Sturm was trying to do when she used an ice cube to wet her mother's dry lips on Jan. 18, a few hours after she had been placed in a hospital bed in the family dining room.

"When I put the ice cube on her lips, she sucked on it. But I knew suckling is a very basic brain stem function, so I didn't get real excited. But when I did it again she just about sucked the ice cube out of my hand, and I looked at my aunt and said, 'Did you see that?!' I was wondering if I was seeing things just because I wanted to. 'Yeah, I saw that!' she said. So I leaned down and asked, 'Mom... Mom, are you in there?'" Sturm said. "And when she shook her head and mouthed, 'Yes,' we all just about fell over."

At the time, the Kupferschmidt's Legion Avenue split-level home was packed with family and friends who had come to say farewell to Rae and console one another on their loss.

Even after Rae's return, her family tried not to get their hopes up, since they had been told terminally ill patients frequently have a "lucid moment" shortly before they pass away.

"We saw it as a gift," Alan Kupferschmidt said. "It was a chance to say goodbye; a chance to speak with Rae one last time."

Again, she defied belief, and her "lucid moment" stretched into a lucid weekend.

"We asked the doctors, 'How long are these lucid moments supposed to last?' And they said anywhere from a few seconds to 20 minutes or so," Sturm said. "I told them, "Well, I'm pretty sure we've broken all of your records then."

Alan Kupferschmidt said that is when he knew it was time to reconsider his wife's treatment plan.

"'We've got to turn this train around,' I said, 'because hospice is a one-way track to the funeral home, and Rae's not ready to go," he recalled.

Though Rae Kupferschmidt doesn't recall much from that week, she said she remembers an exchange she had with her daughter.

"She kept asking me, 'Mom, do you see any angels that you recognize?' She wondered if they were there to take me home," Kupferschmidt recalled Sunday afternoon. "And I said, 'No, they're not here to take me home; they don't want me. They're here to help me.'"

Sturm remembers the conversation vividly.

"She kept saying the house was filled to capacity with souls that she didn't know, but they were all angels, and they were her to heal her," she said.

With that guidance, the family pushed for more proactive medical treatment, and on Jan. 21 plans were made for a surgery the following day that would drain the excess blood from Kupferschmidt's skull.

But later in the day she was slow to wake, and she told family members she was feeling different. Afraid they might lose her again, they called her doctors and moved the surgery up.

The operation went well, and Kupferschmidt has been recovering at United Hospital in St. Paul ever since. She remains weak, but apart from the fact that her right eye now looks slightly off to one side, she appears to have suffered little long-term damage. The experience even seems to have alleviated some of her lupus symptoms - the joint pain that she has lived with for the last 35 years is now gone.

Kupferschmidt spent Saturday and Sunday at home on a trial visit. If all goes well, she'll move back for good on Thursday.

No matter where she is, Kupferschmidt and her family said they now see every day as a gift from God.

"I've been the recipient of God's grace, and given a second chance in life. God is not done with me yet. I'm not finished with my purpose," she said. "I don't know what God's purpose is in continuing my life, but I know I will dedicate my life to His work, whatever that is."

Alan Kupferschmidt said he's convinced his wife's recovery is divine karma for decades of selfless volunteer work. He proudly points to her involvement at Christ Lutheran Church in Lake Elmo, the Stillwater Senior Center, the Lake Elmo Fire Department Auxiliary, prayer circles around the world, and numerous other charitable activities.

"You wouldn't believe how many people have prayed for this woman in the last month," he said. "I had no idea how famous she was."

At that, Kupferschmidt cut her husband off, "Stop it. I'm not famous, I'm lucky, and it's only by God's grace that I'm here," she said.

Regardless of why they are given, the Kupferschmidts said they feel every day is a gift.

Though he's always loved his wife, Alan Kupferschmidt said he now makes sure to let her know how much every day.

Sitting together on their sofa, they beam.

Though she still doesn't know what her mission is, Rae Kupferschmidt said she knows one thing she can do is tell everyone who will listen to visit the doctor if they have persistent headaches.

"I still don't know what my task is here on this Earth, but I know God's not done with me yet. How else could you explain everything that has happened to me?"

To learn more about Rae Kupferschmidt's recovery visit www.caringbridge.org/visit/raleanekupferschmidt.