My Story

My heart journey began in November 2015: the physical part on November 27, the spiritual part three weeks earlier. On November 6, around 10:00 pm on a stretch of highway a few hours from my home, I prayed specifically for God to make my life matter in His Kingdom and pledged that I would do anything to that end. Immediately, apprehensive tears streamed down my face as I realized the weight of that promise.

 

Less than a month later, I almost died from heart failure from an unknown cause: severe idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. I soon learned I had an EF of 8% and spent 14 days in the hospital, most of it in ICU, as doctors tried to save my life.   All of this despite having no risk factors, no family history, low blood pressure, low cholesterol levels, and a recent medical evaluation declaring that I had less than 3% chance of ever developing heart disease. I was emergency flighted to Cleveland Clinic and became their most critical patient for 16 months. During that time I wore a Life Vest external defibrillator, carefully titrated my meds to maximum dosages, and eliminated sodium from my diet. I was eventually implanted with a Biventricular CRT-D, a combination pacemaker/internal defibrillator.

 

Meanwhile, thousands of people prayed for me around the clock despite a grim prognosis and sympathetic tears from every doctor we encountered. Some would say nothing much happened for many, many months, but the miracle was that I survived. Peace enveloped my husband and I, and we held on tight and trusted. Against all medical odds, my EF was restored on March 27, 2017.

 

I don’t want to mislead you into thinking my journey is over, that the story is fully written. I have had setbacks since, physically, and even spiritually. But God showed up countless times throughout the journey and continues to walk through this with me, as I put my today and tomorrow in His tender, merciful hands, and wait for what is next. I trust in God as a loving father. If He chooses to normalize my heart and grant me years into old age, then may He receive all praise and glory.  If God has a different story that He is writing, please pray I can endure that journey with the grace and peace that is only experienced through the Spirit of God.  Thank you for caring enough to join me in this.