Christian Broadcaster Frank Pastore Remains in Coma; Wife Talks About Show, Night of Accident
Popular Christian talk radio host Frank Pastore remains in a coma one week after a motorcycle crash, but showed signs of improvement on Monday while in stable but serious condition, his wife said. In talking about her husband's inspirational impact on people even while he is in intensive care, Gina Pastore told The Christian Post that during his radio show on the same night of the accident he discussed the topic of death and the human soul.
Pastore, 55, who is the host of a daily show on radio station KKLA in Glendale, Calif., was injured in Duarte when his motorcycle was struck in the freeway carpool lane by a car driven by a Glendora woman, said California Highway Patrol officials, as reported by the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. The accident occurred on the evening of Nov. 19.
"His listeners know that actually the last Monday night, the night of the accident, Frank had a segment on the show with a professor from APU (Asuza Pacific University) and Frank was talking about the reality of the soul," Gina Pastore said. "He often talked about this because he was a Christian philosopher. He mentioned on the air, he said, 'that if I were to be killed on the freeway tonight and my body parts are all over the freeway I'm not on the freeway because I'm my soul and I would be with the Lord.'
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"He actually said that the night that it happened, not knowing that he would be hit on his motorcycle. Frank would want people to know that. God created us. We have a soul and we are going to be with the Lord. I pray that Frank's time is not up yet on this earth. I think God has more for him to do, but we have that blessed assurance that we know where he will be if he were not to pull through this," she said.
"The Frank Pastore Show" segment in which he theoretically spoke about the possibility of being killed on the freeway was not available in the archive of shows on KKLA's website at the time of writing this article. However, Gina Pastore told CP that the station probably removed the segment out of respect for her family and would more than likely have the podcast segment available sometime in the future. She said it was a story that must be told and one that her husband would also want shared.
There has not been a lot of change in Pastore's condition, but doctors did monitor some improvement in his responses and noted that there was some movement for the first time, she said.
"It's sure been a time of testing. Being a Christian we have all these clichés in our head … I've always heard about the peace that surpasses understanding," she said. "This week I can say, wow, I really know what that is now because I have really experienced that and the power of prayer.
"I have literally felt that there's thousands of people praying. The love and support of friends has really buoyed me through it. Frank is the love of my life so it's so hard to see him in this condition, but I know and I feel God's presence in all of this and I know he's in God's hands. That's brought so much comfort," she explained.
Gina Pastore said there have been several epiphanies for her in the last week and she remains hopeful.
"Frank spent so much of his career talking whether he was teaching, preaching, or doing radio. Now, he is silent and God is doing so much with his life. That has really spoken to me and it also speaks to the measure of man that he is and his integrity and realness. People just love him. People who don't even know us are sending notes and I'm just blown away from the stories," she said. "Frank has no idea how many people care for him.
"I'm excited for him to wake up and be able to hear all these stories."
She added, "He probably will pull through this and probably have a long rehab. He has multiple broken bones, but again, God is with us and He is with us in our pain and suffering. We're Christians and we don't just say these things to be cute or put little themes to songs. We really believe this and so at a time like this we need to demonstrate it."
In his book, Shattered, Pastore describes his former career as a Cincinnati Reds pitcher, and how a line-drive hit ended his dream of getting "rich and famous" through Major League Baseball by shattering his pitching elbow. He also tells his story of how the incident was part of his testimony in accepting Jesus into his life.
