To come through pain and trouble through perseverance.
There was once a poor, very poor widow, who had an only son. She pulled through with the boy till he was confirmed; but then she told him that she could not feed him any longer; he would have to go out and earn his own bread.1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 215:
Dr. Gilman's race horse was bad last week; fortunately Mr. Verney, the District Veterinary Surgeon, succeeded in pulling him through.1901 April 12, “District Reports”, in The Agricultural Journal and Mining Record, volume 4, number 3, page 68:
1 more example
At one time it looked as though he could not live more than a few hours, and I am convinced that it was only through the Dutchman's doggedness that he pulled through.1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 26”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:
2
To assist someone through difficulties, injury, pain, etc.
"Dr. Van-Herne is confident of pulling Godfrey through, isn't he?"1936, F.J. Thwaites, chapter XV, in The Redemption, Sydney: H. John Edwards, published 1940, page 176:
3
To clean the barrel of a firearm using a pull through.
pull-through
noun
Etymology Deverbal from pull through.
1
An exercise in which weight is pulled via a cable passed between the legs.
2
A length of cord about a metre long with a narrow cylindrical weight at one end and loops at the other. Used for cleaning rifle barrels, by pulling through a piece of cloth.
3
Gambling, Games The trick of apparently cutting the cards while leaving the deck in the same sequence as before.
THE PULL-THROUGH is used for a crooked shuffle to keep the cards stacked.1942, Yank, volume 1, numbers 1-45, page 8:
The most popular and most deceptive of the false shuffles is the Pull Through [sic], a dazzling and completely crooked shuffle which doesn't alter the position of a single card.1961, John Scarne, Complete Guide to Gambling, page 547: