I shall not die but live

 In an instant, without warning, I was gone.

At 10:30 on a Saturday night I suffered a cardiac arrest, lifeless in our bed as my wife called 9-1-1.

But God had a different plan, a supernatural plan.

In the next 48 hours He orchestrated a series of events, employing dozens of professionals, family and friends as “instruments” in His plan to restore my life.

First among the miracles on this journey was the fact that my wife LaDonna was with me when my heart stopped. Typically I am the first to retire for the night. This night, however, she was lying beside me when she suddenly heard sounds like I was fighting for breath.

An instant later I was gone, the body’s electrical system turned off, no blood pumping to keep brain and body working.

As I have no memory of the days immediately before and after the cardiac arrest, this story primarily reflects the experiences of others.

“Don’t go,” LaDonna whispered after realizing I was not breathing. She briefly left the room to call 9-1-1.

She prayed the first of many prayers as the dispatcher put out an ambulance call. It was about nine minutes before a team of responders arrived. They immediately shoved furniture out of the way and transferred my body to the floor to begin chest compressions.

Intravenous lines were established at several points in my body and miscellaneous drugs were administered. After seven jolts from electric “paddles,” my heart began to beat again. I was quickly moved to a gurney and placed in the ambulance for a 30-minute drive to Skagit Valley Hospital.

Another of "my miracles," we were told later by one of the responders, was the timing of their availability. If the 9-1-1 call to our house had been made 15 minutes earlier, all of the city’s responders were unavailable, engaged on another call. They were actually on the road from that event when they received the call to my home.

Two police officers who had responded to the 9-1-1 call stayed with LaDonna until a dear friend and his teenage son arrived at our home. Father and son, long-time friends from church, ministered to LaDonna as daughter and son-in-law Kirsten and Brian scrambled to make the trip from North Whidbey Island to Anacortes. Friends and family soon connected before the drive to the ER in Mount Vernon.

Where a sense of despair and helplessness would have been understandable, home and then cars were filled with the sweet sounds of scriptures and prayer.

“We prayed all the way to the hospital,” my daughter recalls. “We told the Lord we trust Him. We read Bible verses, prayed for Mom, and surrendered you.”

When family arrived at the emergency room I was on a ventilator, still unconscious. They were informed that only LaDonna would be allowed to see me. Brian and Kirsten were reading Psalm 34 when my son Mark and daughter-in-law Kimber arrived after an anxious 45-minute drive. Brother Rich had also made the drive.

As all waited, daughter Kirsten read Psalm 33:18-22: “Behold the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope for His lovingkindness, to deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and shield. For our heart rejoices in Him, because we trust in His holy name. Let Your lovingkindness, O Lord, be upon us, as we have waited for You.”

A doctor delivered a grim prognosis. Meanwhile I tested positive for COVID so I was moved to isolation, where efforts to save my life continued.

Because of the possibility of death, a nurse was dispatched, making the “exception” to allow son and daughter to join their mother to spend time with their father. There, in the only time they would have with their unconscious father for the next two days, they stroked his hair and spoke in his ear.

“I love you so much Dad,” said Mark. “I want you to stay, but if it’s God’s will for you to go home, then it’s okay. We’ll take care of Mama. It’ll be okay.”

“I prayed that God would use you as a miracle,” Kirsten recalled. “Man so often says ‘Where is your God? Things are the same as they always were.’ But I kept thinking, ‘Lord Jesus, we trust You, but we ask for healing to Your glory.’ I whispered in your ear that I loved you, and told you we’d take care of Mom.”

Kirsten then read 1 Corinthians 15:40-44: “There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.”

She whispered the 23^rd Psalm in her father’s ear.

Kirsten recalls: “The medical team scurried around the room as we waited for the doctor. They asked us to think what we would like to do in regard to artificial life support. Mom responded, ‘How do I know what to do? How can I make this decision?’ I suggested to her that we don't have to make any decisions. God is the One who decides. He gives and He takes away.”

“I reminded Mom that we can trust Jesus moment by moment and that is the best decision to make,” she continued. “We told them we didn't want to hold onto you, if it's not God's will, then He would take you home. Mom nodded her head.”

Kirsten said: “I remember scanning the room and thinking, ‘Lord! Look at all these souls! Use this for your glory. These people watch patients die every day, but I'm not sure these men and women see many patients come back to life. Lord, show people that You still raise the dead, you are still in the healing business’.”

At about 3 a.m., all were asked to leave the isolation room due to the COVID diagnosis. Everyone was sent home.

“We were not allowed to see you after that,” Kirsten recalls.

There was a stop in Anacortes early Monday for a few hours to sleep, then on to Whidbey Island, where Mark and Kimber rejoined the family in waiting. More sleep and the sharing of a meal.

On Monday evening, with me still unresponsive at the hospital, calls were made inviting friends to gather for prayer. As one young man played hymns on the piano, 21 brothers and sisters in Christ prayed.

“We asked that God’s name would be glorified,” Kirsten recalls. “We prayed that you would be healed so that others might come to know Jesus as Lord and King of their lives. We gave thanks, we praised, we trusted. We clung to God’s promises.”

A phone call to the hospital later that night brought the news that I had regained consciousness even as the group prayed. I had opened my eyes and tracked the nurse as she moved through the room.

“You wiggled your toes, squeezed the nurse’s hand when she asked you to,” family was told.

Now off the ventilator, it was time for more divine intervention.

I had recovered from COVID a few months earlier, and showed no symptoms before the cardiac arrest. Although family requested it, a second COVID test was refused. Kirsten went to the hospital website, reviewed a patient rights section, and called another number to explain the situation.

On the other end of that call was a Christian woman, who called back. She listened to Kirsten’s frustrated appeal and said she would see about administering another COVID test.

“She prayed with me and for me,” Kirsten recalled. “She was a lovely example of Christ's love hidden in the craziness of hospital bureaucracy.”

On Wednesday the second test came back negative. Then a third, paving the way for me to be moved out of isolation to a room in the Intensive Care unit.

The first time my wife and family had seen me after I regained consciousness was in a video call, one of several that would be scheduled while on-site visits were prohibited.

In the days that followed, one person at a time from family was allowed to spend time with me (again, general hospital COVID restrictions).

On March 24 I had a stent placed in a partially blocked artery. That day during her visit Kirsten took the opportunity to talk to a nurse.

“The nurse pointed at you and said, ‘I sometimes see people come back … but not like that’,” said Kirsten. “You were smiling and pushing your walker back to your bed. The nurse said she did not recognize you as the same patient she had seen a few days ago.”

On March 28 I had a defibrillator/pacemaker placed in my chest, and on Wednesday, 10 days after arriving unconscious by ambulance, I was released to go home.

Seven months later, as I reflect on this story of God’s miraculous intervention in my life, I am thankful for this expression of His love and healing power. I hurt for my loved ones who were initially given little hope for my survival. They did not despair, however, and turned my fate over to God. I will forever be grateful for their love, prayers and devotion to God’s will, God’s glory.

I am also grateful for the countless brothers and sisters who lifted my name up in prayer. My faith in the power of prayer was reinforced at a very personal level.

I am grateful that despite the long minutes without heart activity I did not suffer cognitive or physical damage. (Photo below is me (center) and two of the emergency responders who got my heart pumping again and delivered me for hospital treatment.)

As I continue to move forward in these months of recovery, I celebrate. I give Jesus thanks each day and continue to ask, “What is your will for me? Will you lead me, giving me the words, inspiring the actions that will glorify Your name? I thank you, Lord, for the gift of life and the opportunity to continue to serve You.”

By Steve Berentson

 

Notes: Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) is a life-threatening emergency that occurs when the heart suddenly stops beating. SCA leads to death in minutes if the person does not get help right away. According to the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation, survival after emergency medical treatment is 9%, and survival with good functional status is 7%. SCA is the third leading cause of death in the nation, affecting 1,000 people outside hospital settings each day. Approximately 356,000 people of all ages experience EMS-assessed out-of-hospital non-traumatic SCA each year and nine out of 10 victims die.