Our Gift of Promise
Our sweet daughter, Aurora, is our gift of promise, prayed for by my husband and I for years. The day Aurora was born, there were rainbows in the sky over our farm and over the hospital. There was so much confirmation and joy wrapped up in our perfect little baby. It was bliss.
At two months of age, our daughter was diagnosed with a life-threatening congenital heart defect. She was rushed into emergency open heart surgery on Christmas Eve, and we did not know if she would survive. She had multiple surgeries, and through each one she became increasingly more unstable. Then came a lengthy procedure, and at 4:00AM on Christmas morning, she coded. We thought we were going to lose her.
In a miraculous few minutes, the Lord reversed her situation. She survived; however, she was critically ill. She had a second open heart surgery on Christmas morning and survived again. We then had a one-month recovery in the hospital, but we were still looking at the possibility of another open heart surgery as her mitral valve had died due to poor blood flow. It would only be a matter of time until this pushed her into heart failure.
We started to talk about her next surgery four months after we were discharged. Her medical needs at home were all-consuming. I had to pause my once thriving full-time career as a family nurse practitioner, a job I had poured my whole being into, especially during Covid. I soaked up the hours at home caring for my baby and, at the same time, dealt with incredible anxiety and medical PTSD due to her hospitalization and the nearly sudden loss of her alongside the loss of normalcy.
At her 6-month check-up, the doctor completed labs, x-rays, and more tests in preparation for another open heart surgery. I was falling apart. I was staying up in the night praying and praying for a miracle. It developed depth in my walk with Christ in a way that nothing else ever had. I listened to hymns and worship music constantly. I prayed face down on the floor in the wee hours of the morning between running her feeding pump, doing laundry, and washing medical supplies. I prayed for her healing and did my best to trust that even if another surgery was on its way, the Lord was faithful and true to complete a good work.
We arrived at her 6-month appointment ready to be hit with bad news and “next step” conversations. Instead, her doctor came in with a big grin on his face and said he could not believe what he saw. Her valve was healed, and her heart function was entirely normal. A miracle had taken place! We were able to stop most of her medications, get rid of her feeding tube, and be "set free" to start exploring outside the four walls of our home.
Every day we are thankful for what the Lord has done in our sweet Aurora. Her life is an answer to prayer, and we are in awe of the miracle that she is.
Do you feel your story can serve as a hope and inspiration to others? Share your story at mystory@radiant.church.