The Emotional True Story Behind Chrissy Metz's New Movie 'Breakthrough'

• This Is Us star Chrissy Metz's new movie, Breakthrough, tells the true story of Missouri teenager John Smith.
• In 2015, John was submerged underwater for 15 minutes following a lake accident.
• John's made a full recovery after his mother, Joyce, said a prayer over him at the hospital.

This Is Us fans have been buzzing about Chrissy Metz's new project, a movie called Breakthrough, since it was first announced that she'd be making her feature film lead role debut. But the true stars of this emotional new drama are the real-life characters who the story is based on: 18-year-old John Smith (played by Marcel Ruiz) and his mother, Joyce (who Chrissy plays in the movie).

The miracle that inspired Breakthrough ...

Breakthrough centers around the true story of teenager John Smith, a young man from St. Charles, Missouri. Just like any other kid his age, John — who was adopted by his parents, Joyce and Brian, when he was just a baby — attended middle school and played sports ... until tragedy struck.

On January 19, 2015, then-14-year-old John and two of his friends were messing around on frozen Lake St. Louise when the ice broke open beneath their feet and they plummeted down into the brutally cold water. One boy was able to climb his way out, and another was quickly rescued. John, however, became trapped and sank down to the lake's floor.

Chrissy Metz and John Smith attend the premiere of Breakthrough in St. Louis, Missouri.

After 15 minutes underwater, the teenager was finally pulled to the surface by first responders and taken to the nearby St. Joseph Hospital West. His body was cold and lifeless, and doctors tried to administer CPR for 43 minutes with no success. Emergency room doctor Kent Sutterer was preparing to deliver the tragic news to John's mother, Joyce, when she entered her son's hospital room and quickly said a desperate prayer: "Holy Spirit, please come and give me back my son!" she prayed aloud, according to People.

As the story goes, that was the moment that everything changed: Immediately after Joyce uttered those words, her son's heart began beating once again. And he just kept continuing to defy the odds from there — although his doctors had told Joyce and Brian that he would likely never regain neurological function, John was awake and answering questions within 48 hours of his rescue.

What life is like for John and Joyce today

In an unprecedented turn of events, John not only recovered fully from his brush with death, but he also did so with remarkable speed: Just three weeks after his lifeless body had been admitted to the hospital, John walked out the front door on his own two feet. He had to attend outpatient therapy for several weeks following his release, but it was a recovery that doctors had never seen the likes of before.

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Medical experts have since theorized that the extremely cold temperature of the water that day was what redistributed John's blood flow and kept his organs functioning, but the Smith family believes there was also something else at play: a true, God-given miracle. It's what Joyce wrote about in her book about the incident, The Impossible, and what new movie Breakthrough is all about.

"I have always believed that God's going to do what he says he does because I've seen it all my life," Joyce told People earlier this month. "But this is like the Oscars of faith. The very moment that I needed God, he was there instantly. And when John's heartbeat started right up it was like, 'Thank you, Lord, for being so merciful for me,' which just set my faith forever in bedrock."

Chrissy with Joyce Smith.

Today, John is 18 years old and has appeared at events for the movie's release alongside his mother, Joyce, and the actors that portray them in the film.

You can find Breakthrough playing in a theater near you starting Wednesday, April 17.