A Miracle, The Second Time Around

From time to time, CBS Correspondent Steve Hartman uses the random toss of a dart and a map of the United States to guide him in his quest to prove that "Everybody Has A Story."

On Thursday, however, he's taking a trip down memory lane with an update on one of the many people he has profiled.

Nevada's Lincoln County is world renowned for its UFO sightings, but the person who had answered his phone call that day three years ago was just another earthling.

"I've never been abducted yet," said James Prince, president of the Nevada Bank and Trust.

The bank has seven branches and $57 million in assets. But not much of it belongs to Prince.

"Well, divorces don't come cheap," he explained.

The bank president lived in a mobile home with his fourth wife, Rosa. His life had been an emotional roller coaster.

But only a few years before he first met Hartman, Prince went from his lowest low to his highest high and said the prayer that he's convinced made all the difference.

"You just don't believe it at first," he noted.

It began, sadly, when Prince's youngest son, Troy, moved his family to Utah.

"And on his way to work, his first day of work at a new job, is when he fell asleep at the wheel of the car," Prince explained.

In the weeks following the funeral, Prince found himself praying for, of all things, another son.

It had been 30 years and three marriages since that thought had last seriously crossed his mind.

And it wasn't realistic. Rosa Prince's doctor had just told her it was time to schedule a hysterectomy, and Prince himself was about to celebrate his 60th birthday.

But this is a family that believes prayers are answered, ready or not.

Nine months later, the Princes had a son, Ross.

"Be careful what you ask for," James Prince said. "I'll be the oldest guy in the PTA."

When Hartman first met Prince he was 63, his son Ross, 3.

"Some of the people my age said, 'Oh, I don't envy you.' Come to think of it, they all did," noted James Prince, adding they don't know what they're missing.

"It's my daddy," said Ross, as his father walks in the door. "Ross watches for me out the window, totally excited when I come home," Prince explained.

In fact, James Prince said the last three years have been some of the best of his life.

But there is a down side to having a child so late in life, and in James Prince's case, it's a very serious down side.

He has Parkinson's disease and for eight years it's been stealing his strength.

"It's in the neck, enough to cause me bad headache," he explains.

And although it's generally not a fatal disease, it will probably rob him of some moments with his son.

"But I'm a believer in miracles, too. I had one. Maybe there's another one on the way," Prince said three years ago.

In the three year since then, a lot has happened.

Ross says, "I'm the only one in my class that doesn't like beans."

More to point, though, is this recent development. James Prince has had two different brain surgeries, trying for that second miracle and, today, the shaking is all but gone.

"Except I can't talk," he says. His speech is slowed and slurred, but he gets around well, especially for a guy his age.

About his dad, Ross says, "He was born in like 1780s. Trust me on this."

That's why Ross gets concerned when his dad tries to act like he's 200 years younger than he is.

"He watches out for me," says Prince about his son.

"He is a fun dad, at least," Ross says.

Unfortunately, no surgery can cure Parkinson's. All you can do is hide the symptoms and do what Prince has always done.

He says, "I pray for miracles all the time."