“As He passed by
He (Jesus) saw a man blind from birth.
His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned,
this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
Jesus answered,
“Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be
made visible through him.” USCCB Bible, John 9:1-3.
It is one year to the day since our oldest daughter had a
life changing diagnosis ‘Death/Heart failure.’ What started out as a routine
sports physical turned out to be a nightmare. I remember getting home from work
around 6pm and meeting my darling and daughter on their way out to the ER since
her pediatrician had referred us there to get an ECG. The reason for the
referral was since her pediatrician could not obtain a blood pressure reading
due to a non-consistent heart beat on our daughter. What was more surprising,
was that our daughter had no complaints or signs of distress. She was behaving ordinarily
and looked normal. She had come from school and everything was normal as usual.
Upon arrival to the ER they had to wait about an hour to be
served. However, when the nurse assistant performed the ECG, what she saw made
her doubt the results. So, she reattached all the leads again, did another ECG
and still got the same ‘weird’ results. At this point, she disconnected the
leads, wheeled out the ECG instrument and got another one. She repeated the
procedure all over again and long and behold, the results were the same.
Bewildered, she left the room, only to return with a colleague. The two
rechecked the leads, the ECG instrument and ran the procedure again. THE
RESULTS WERE THE SAME! Upon taking those results to the doctor on duty, she
sent them back to redo the test since she suspected the leads were mixed up.
The results were similar. The doctor herself made her way to the
room and performed the ECG herself. No one could really believe what they were
looking at. By this time, my darling had sensed that something was amiss. It did
not take long before I got that phone call that sends shivers down the spine. I
picked up the phone and she said, “Honey, you need to come to the hospital.”
“Darling, just get the ECG and come home, I answered calmly
since I mean, they had gone to get an ECG. What was the big deal!
“Anthony, you need to come to the hospital now! She insisted. More so I thought I heard her call me by name…something that rarely happens. In addition, the tone in her voice spelt trouble. A quick look at the clock revealed it was a little after 10PM. I quickly made sure the other children were asleep and notified a friend to keep an eye on them since I had to run to the hospital.
At the hospital, the look on my darling was enough to say it
all. Our daughter on the other side was not really concerned, she was feeling
well. In an interesting twist of events, I got to the hospital the same time as
the cardiologist. Among the first words from his month was “I usually do not
come back to the hospital after I go home!” However, when I got the results, I
had to come because of what I saw. I need to send you to a more specialized
hospital since your daughter needs specialized cardiac care which we cannot do
at this facility, he added. At the same moment, my daughter went on to
introduce me as a biochemist – PhD. The cardiologist seized on the moment and
pulled me to the side.
He knew the easiest way to connect to another scientist was to ‘show me the data’. Subsequently, so he did. I could not deny the fact the data was disturbing. The heart function of our daughter was certainly far from the norm. Indeed, it was downright “unimaginable!” I slowly put two and two together and realized why he had come back to the hospital from his home. He insisted he needed to send us to another facility to take care of our daughter because he felt she might even need a heart transplant. Initially, I had asked that the referral be delayed to Spring Break which was 3 days away. I sensed the urgency in his voice too. Back in the examination room, he briefed us on what the next steps were going to be. We (my wife and I) agreed to the transfer to another hospital (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia). I offered to go with our daughter. My darling drove home to get us some clothing and necessitates while we waited for the ambulance. It was already 1:AM on 3/27 when the ambulance arrived….To be continued.
News about our daughter had spread like wild fire in the
hospital. We noticed many personnel just come by and look at her (us). As she
walked to the ambulance…people started running to her, giving her hugs and
gifts as if to say…GOODBYE… Her mum and I stared on with disbelief, for when we
saw the diagnosis written on the transfer paper, it read ‘Death/ Heart failure.
We looked at one another and said, SHE (nurse) MUST HAVE MADE A MISTAKE! Mistake
or not…everyone was giving our daughter their last affectionate acts…the news
about her condition was ominous…
But surely, were they wrong…Our daughter has the same heart,
same irregular heartbeat and more…but has continued to live her normal life
just like anybody else. You may ask why such a condition that has baffled doctors
and experts alike. The answer is simple… Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his
parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through
him.” Thus, is God glorified in the life of our daughter…
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