Recently I broke my leg and right after that I broke my arm so I have not been able to post anything for a long time. However, I wanted to share with you a story of a miracle a friend just sent to me. I think of it as a miracle, and like many others there is nothing miraculous about it. Like beauty, it’s all in the eye of the beholder but to my friend Kimberly it is extraordinary. And I think it is too.
I wanted to share with you an incredible story of a miracle.
On January 29th, at 4:30 am, I was awakened by a northern mockingbird singing loudly outside our bedroom window. I thought it strange, a bird singing well before dawn. And I was a bit annoyed that I had been woken up by his noisy vocalizations. However, once awake, I turned to check on my husband. He was struggling for breath, as if he weren’t getting enough oxygen. I thought he was having a nightmare. I shook him. He wouldn’t wake up. I yelled at him, “Dan, wake up! You’re having a nightmare!” Unresponsive.
I grabbed my phone and called 911. The paramedics came within seven or eight minutes. As they were assessing Dan, his heart stopped. Cardiac arrest. They placed him on the ground and commenced CPR. They charged the defibrillator and shocked him, too. A minute or two later, Dan took a deep breath in.
He spent five days in the ICU at Cottage Hospital. Doctors determined it was ventricular tachycardia, possibly triggered by a 90% occlusion in his right cardiac artery, which now has a stent.
Of course, I’m suffering from PTSD and all of the emotions and bodily symptoms that come with it. I wake up at 4:30 every morning thinking that I am responsible for my husband’s life. The overarching emotion I feel, however, is one of deepest gratitude, because I feel that mockingbird was sent by God to say, “Wake up. Pay attention. Something’s about to happen.” I felt called to do the right thing, and by some miracle, I did exactly that.
The paramedics are the true heroes in this story—but the bird singing in the nighttime that saved my husband’s life–that was the miracle.