Not only was last week’s East Coast earthquake nice enough not to seriously injure anybody, but its rumbling effects may have actually helped a deaf man hear again.

Washington D.C.-area cancer patient Robert Valderzak, who lost most of his hearing on Father’s Day when he fell and fractured his skull, said the quake “shook me terrible – right out of the bed.” But after it stopped, Valderzak was thrilled to find that he could hear the voices of his children, who had been visiting him on the day of the earthquake.

Valderzak’s doctor doesn’t dispute that the quake played a role in Valderzak recovery:  “A combination of a drug he was taking and the earthquake event itself likely led to him losing the fluid [which was causing the deafness] and gaining back his hearing,” Dr. Ross Fletcher explained.

Learn more about what Valderzak calls “a miracle” below.

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