A few years ago my son made a comment after church that God didn't do many miracles anymore. Of course that stirred a rich discussion about the shape and form of miracles today. No, there's not many burning bushes or water walking but there are in fact miracles. In fact, one happened this week in the Hoosier Heartland.
On Facebook the other night I came across a post from my friend Mia Hull White -
Lots of things caught my attention. Not just the word miracle but the fact that it was a miracle in a hospital and Mia is an RN. I also recognized Becky Dawson Greenlee's name as a girl from my hometown. Her mom was my gymnastics coach. So I started creeping Facebook looking for clues to this miracle.
Posts on Mia's page the day before were basically sending Becky on her way to heaven. It spoke of what a wonderful person she was and how she would be missed. Becky was younger than me so I was curious what had happened to her. There were tons of people commenting on Becky and her character and all written in the past tense.
What was this miracle?
I dug further and linked to her church's Facebook page from a link on Mia's - Greencastle Christian Church. There were praises for this miracle that God had brought Becky back!
I continued to search and found that Becky was 39 or 40 years old with 5 children and had suffered a heart attack in church on Sunday. After messaging Mia she told me that Becky suffered from Lupus and told me that sometimes lupus patients can suffer from blood clots and they think that is what caused the heart attack. Up until this time, Becky was healthy and had even been doing some P90X workouts (which are tough!) just days before.
The first of the miracles were that there were nurses that were the first to find Becky collapsed at church. They rushed in to help Becky and summoned an ambulance. She was flown to St. V's. I'd say the first of the miracles were the nurses that were the real first responders.
At the hospital the doctors went to work but from what I can see from the posts, things were not going well inside the hospital. Her church family and friends rallied and then began the most amazing show of prayer support you have ever seen.
There were signs around town, rummage sales, food support for the family, and the prayers were amazing. Some were very biblical, some were just a cry from the heart, you could feel them when you read them.
I became obsessed searching for more information about this miracle and these people, these beautiful prayerful people. One post on the church website was from a lady that said she would begin attending this church because she wanted to be closer to Jesus. She had been searching in her life and knew that she needed to be closer to Him and felt like Becky's story was drawing her closer.
Mia wrote to tell me that Becky was the most amazing person. Because of her lupus it was risky for her to carry children so she had a surrogate mother. She had taken two children in because their mother had died, one now in college at Duke and the other still at home. She also has 2 year old twins and a 4 year old. Six in total if you count the 20 year old that she had recently taken in that had been a part of the foster program and was struggling.
If anyone deserved a miracle it appeared to be Becky. An amazing woman. Loved by so many.
According to my Facebook lurking and messages from Mia, Becky was not responding and had three different medical tests that showed that her brain had stopped functioning. Three different tests.
Becky's husband was asked to begin making tough decisions about letting Becky go.
Less than 24 hours after the tests, Becky began responding. VERBALLY.
This was when Mia posted about the miracle. Truly.
The neurologists said it was in fact a miracle and they had never witnessed anything like it. Becky has had some challenges since but is recovering fully. In fact, the doctors believe she will have a FULL recovery. She's pulling at the breathing tubes and wants to communicate. I can't wait to hear the story she will tell.
Her church continues to coordinate prayers and support. Today was wear purple (Becky's favorite color) day in support of her miracle and continued recovery. A guy that didn't even know Becky posted that he didn't have anything purple so he went out and had this made and wanted Becky to have it after he wore it today.