The Miracle of Mom 2004
The Miracle of My Mom 2004
Saturday, November 6, 2004, the day after my 34th birthday. It started as an ordinary travel day for my Mom and my Dad. They had been to Indiana to visit family, and they were headed back to Florida.
They were near Manchester, Tennessee, when my mom suddenly blacked out. She had fainted and my Dad had to shake her awake while he was driving. She tried to speak and let him know that she was okay, but she couldn’t say anything.
They rushed to a nearby clinic where they ran some tests. Something was happening with her heart. They chambers weren’t working in sync. She needed to go to a hospital, but the nearest ones were quite a distance away. They decided on Chattanooga, 75 miles away, and my mom was rushed away in an ambulance. She later remembers being put into the ambulance and then waking up as they exited the interstate. Everything else is a blank.
As soon as they arrived, they ran several tests and then placed her in a regular room. They decided to keep her for a couple of days, and they placed her in a room directly across the hall from the nurse’s station.
Sunday evening, the doctors wanted her to do an MRI. For some reason, mom felt really bad about it. Even though the nurses insisted it was a good idea, she refused. She said that it just wasn’t the right thing to do.
Nov 8, 2004 9:30am – Juanita Gayle Berry put on her glasses and got up to go to bathroom. She instantly fell flat on her face, glasses and all. A technician walking by saw her fall. The technician who had been working all night long and two nurses ran in and lifted her up, swinging her onto the bed.
A cardiologist and an intern came in and started CPR. They couldn’t get her back, so they zapped her. They worked on her for 45 minutes and zapped her 9 times. After that agonizing amount of time passed, her heart started beating again, but she was in a coma. She was placed in ICU.
Visiting hours had just begun, so Dad was just arriving at the hospital. He asked why mom was not in her room. He was taken to the ICU waiting room, and the intern, Dr. Cunningham, came out to explain what had happened. Later a nurse informed my Dad that several bones in her face were broken, but they couldn’t x-ray until later. They would find out the extent of the damage when they could.
My Dad instantly called my brother, Clark, in Florida and me in South Korea. Were devastated by the news. My brother got someone to drive him up immediately, thinking that he was going to lose mom. I booked the first flight that I could. I thought I was flying to Tennessee to say goodbye to my mom forever.
In ICU, she apparently ‘woke up’ from the coma twice but instantly lapsed back into a comatose state. The first time was when her college roommate, Marilynn, showed up to tell her that she was praying for her. Apparently, my mom said thank you before lapsing back. She was always kind, even in a coma. :-)
The second time she awoke, they were transporting her somewhere. They were wheeling her down the hallway. She wanted to tell them something but the ventilator was in her mouth. She motioned to write, and they went to go get a white board. Mom wrote, “why this surg” and her hand dropped. The nurse assured her it was not surgery but a test.
After the x-ray, they discovered that there was not a single broken bone in her face. And her glasses? Not broken. Not even scratched.
Tuesday morning, November 9, slightly before visiting hours at 10:00 AM. My mom woke up as if from a normal sleep. She had been in a coma for 24 hours. Someone told her that they were going to soon remove both tubes from her throat, the ventilator for her lungs, and the suction tube for her stomach. She had gotten very ill throughout the night, and they were first going to clean her up.
My Dad and my brother walked in to see Mom, thinking she was in a coma. She was wide awake. She greeted them and asked what Clark was doing there. She was on a ventilator and 8 IVs. Throughout this entire time, my mom never suffered or fully realized all that had happened to her.
I flew in to Chattanooga and my Dad met me at the airport. I was unsure of how my mom was doing since she had been through so much. By the time I arrived, she was sitting up in bed with no tubes at all, and said, “Well what are you doing here?” as if me showing up while she was in the hospital was the most unusual thing she could think of. She had no idea that we all thought we were going to lose her.
The days that followed were amazing. A trail of doctors paraded through her room, shaking their heads and saying that she was a miracle. None of them had given much hope that she would wake up from the coma. They were delighted, and many of them referred to her as “A Miracle”.
The nurses and technician also shared their story. One of them thanked the others for bearing mom’s weight, because they didn’t feel her weight when they lifted her up. The others looked blank and said that they didn’t feel her weight either. Mom would later say that angels lifted her up. :-)
Regardless, a miracle happened in first Manchester, Tennessee, and then Chattanooga. My mom firmly believes that she passed out originally so she would be in the hospital when she had her cardiac arrest. According to the American Heart Association, “Nearly 360,000 cardiac arrests occur outside of a hospital each year in the United States. Fewer than 10 percent survive”. My mom firmly believes she was at that hospital and in that room across from the nurse’s station because God knew that those doctors and nurses would care for her in the way that she needed.
We finally found out that her heart seemed to gravitate toward a deadly rhythm, what I’ve now come to know as A-fib. I had the privilege of staying with my Mom while they put in a defribrilator on November 19, 2004. The doctor’s skillfully installed her first one ever, and I got to be with her the day that she left the hospital and spent the night at her college roommate’s home in Georgia. She couldn’t lie down that night and had to sleep sitting up, but I will always treasure being there to know that she was going to be okay outside of the hospital. I boarded a plane back to Korea the next day.
I share this story, because I promised my mom that I would. She loved telling it, and she always said that God left her here for a purpose. When she shared this story with her friends, they would always say, “They would never work on anyone for that long.” I’m forever grateful that they did.
There was another miracle that would later happen to my mom, and I will share that one in my next post. But for now, I share that God is amazing. There is no other way to explain the miracles that took place in November 2004. I thank God for allowing me many more years to know and love my Mom. Thank you, Jesus, for giving me such a mom and for allowing me those extra years with her!
Saturday, November 6, 2004, the day after my 34th birthday. It started as an ordinary travel day for my Mom and my Dad. They had been to Indiana to visit family, and they were headed back to Florida.
They were near Manchester, Tennessee, when my mom suddenly blacked out. She had fainted and my Dad had to shake her awake while he was driving. She tried to speak and let him know that she was okay, but she couldn’t say anything.
They rushed to a nearby clinic where they ran some tests. Something was happening with her heart. They chambers weren’t working in sync. She needed to go to a hospital, but the nearest ones were quite a distance away. They decided on Chattanooga, 75 miles away, and my mom was rushed away in an ambulance. She later remembers being put into the ambulance and then waking up as they exited the interstate. Everything else is a blank.
As soon as they arrived, they ran several tests and then placed her in a regular room. They decided to keep her for a couple of days, and they placed her in a room directly across the hall from the nurse’s station.
Sunday evening, the doctors wanted her to do an MRI. For some reason, mom felt really bad about it. Even though the nurses insisted it was a good idea, she refused. She said that it just wasn’t the right thing to do.
Nov 8, 2004 9:30am – Juanita Gayle Berry put on her glasses and got up to go to bathroom. She instantly fell flat on her face, glasses and all. A technician walking by saw her fall. The technician who had been working all night long and two nurses ran in and lifted her up, swinging her onto the bed.
A cardiologist and an intern came in and started CPR. They couldn’t get her back, so they zapped her. They worked on her for 45 minutes and zapped her 9 times. After that agonizing amount of time passed, her heart started beating again, but she was in a coma. She was placed in ICU.
Visiting hours had just begun, so Dad was just arriving at the hospital. He asked why mom was not in her room. He was taken to the ICU waiting room, and the intern, Dr. Cunningham, came out to explain what had happened. Later a nurse informed my Dad that several bones in her face were broken, but they couldn’t x-ray until later. They would find out the extent of the damage when they could.
My Dad instantly called my brother, Clark, in Florida and me in South Korea. Were devastated by the news. My brother got someone to drive him up immediately, thinking that he was going to lose mom. I booked the first flight that I could. I thought I was flying to Tennessee to say goodbye to my mom forever.
In ICU, she apparently ‘woke up’ from the coma twice but instantly lapsed back into a comatose state. The first time was when her college roommate, Marilynn, showed up to tell her that she was praying for her. Apparently, my mom said thank you before lapsing back. She was always kind, even in a coma. :-)
The second time she awoke, they were transporting her somewhere. They were wheeling her down the hallway. She wanted to tell them something but the ventilator was in her mouth. She motioned to write, and they went to go get a white board. Mom wrote, “why this surg” and her hand dropped. The nurse assured her it was not surgery but a test.
After the x-ray, they discovered that there was not a single broken bone in her face. And her glasses? Not broken. Not even scratched.
Tuesday morning, November 9, slightly before visiting hours at 10:00 AM. My mom woke up as if from a normal sleep. She had been in a coma for 24 hours. Someone told her that they were going to soon remove both tubes from her throat, the ventilator for her lungs, and the suction tube for her stomach. She had gotten very ill throughout the night, and they were first going to clean her up.
My Dad and my brother walked in to see Mom, thinking she was in a coma. She was wide awake. She greeted them and asked what Clark was doing there. She was on a ventilator and 8 IVs. Throughout this entire time, my mom never suffered or fully realized all that had happened to her.
I flew in to Chattanooga and my Dad met me at the airport. I was unsure of how my mom was doing since she had been through so much. By the time I arrived, she was sitting up in bed with no tubes at all, and said, “Well what are you doing here?” as if me showing up while she was in the hospital was the most unusual thing she could think of. She had no idea that we all thought we were going to lose her.
The days that followed were amazing. A trail of doctors paraded through her room, shaking their heads and saying that she was a miracle. None of them had given much hope that she would wake up from the coma. They were delighted, and many of them referred to her as “A Miracle”.
The nurses and technician also shared their story. One of them thanked the others for bearing mom’s weight, because they didn’t feel her weight when they lifted her up. The others looked blank and said that they didn’t feel her weight either. Mom would later say that angels lifted her up. :-)
Regardless, a miracle happened in first Manchester, Tennessee, and then Chattanooga. My mom firmly believes that she passed out originally so she would be in the hospital when she had her cardiac arrest. According to the American Heart Association, “Nearly 360,000 cardiac arrests occur outside of a hospital each year in the United States. Fewer than 10 percent survive”. My mom firmly believes she was at that hospital and in that room across from the nurse’s station because God knew that those doctors and nurses would care for her in the way that she needed.
We finally found out that her heart seemed to gravitate toward a deadly rhythm, what I’ve now come to know as A-fib. I had the privilege of staying with my Mom while they put in a defribrilator on November 19, 2004. The doctor’s skillfully installed her first one ever, and I got to be with her the day that she left the hospital and spent the night at her college roommate’s home in Georgia. She couldn’t lie down that night and had to sleep sitting up, but I will always treasure being there to know that she was going to be okay outside of the hospital. I boarded a plane back to Korea the next day.
I share this story, because I promised my mom that I would. She loved telling it, and she always said that God left her here for a purpose. When she shared this story with her friends, they would always say, “They would never work on anyone for that long.” I’m forever grateful that they did.
There was another miracle that would later happen to my mom, and I will share that one in my next post. But for now, I share that God is amazing. There is no other way to explain the miracles that took place in November 2004. I thank God for allowing me many more years to know and love my Mom. Thank you, Jesus, for giving me such a mom and for allowing me those extra years with her!
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