Tortuous Trial
Mar 31, 2024 | by The Fellowship
Upon learning through Facebook about a mysterious, almost fatal accident that happened to a friend of ours, my husband and I started praying immediately. I also began to submit prayer requests for his healing every Sunday.
We met John and his wife on a tour of the Holy Land when their church and ours made the trip together. All of us are Canadian but lived on opposite sides of the country. Though we have not seen them since the trip, we have kept in touch through social media.
The story began when John apparently went for a walk by himself on January 24th on a country road by his home. His wife was at work. The most likely scenario is that he was struck by a vehicle. Since there are no known witnesses, what actually happened is open to conjecture. He laid unconscious on the side of the road until eventually a man came along and called 911. Apparently, John was very close to dying. He was taken to the trauma unit at the local hospital and spent four days there under 24/7 observation before being moved to ICU.
John suffered from traumatic brain injury, including severe swelling to his brain, several brain bleeds and numerous skull fractures. He also had a fractured T11 vertebra (middle of back), fractured tailbone, and multiple bruises everywhere (all of which are consistent with a hard fall backwards). The only truly puzzling injury was a huge black eye with severe swelling and a fractured orbital bone. This injury makes the doctors think he was possibly struck by a side mirror from a pickup truck (that would have been at the right height). Miraculously, none of his injuries required surgery. They did, however, had to make a small cut to the outside corner of his eye to release the pressure caused by his brain swelling and pooling blood.
As you can well imagine, with so many injuries, he was in a lot of pain and for the first week, he slept almost 21 hours a day. Once he was awake for longer periods of time, the medical personnel were able to assess him better. He had high blood pressure and severe headaches every day for over a month as well as severe dizziness, double vision, balance and walking issues, memory loss, and hearing loss in his right ear.
John could not swallow properly and had to be on pureed food for more than a month. The ongoing, severe headaches made it hard for him to function or focus. He went through bouts both of confusion and anger. Throwing fits was common as was refusing to work with doctors because everything they did caused him pain and frustration.
After a few weeks when he was allowed to have visitors, John’s mood lifted immensely. Regular visits from his kids and siblings made a tremendous difference in his outlook.
Weeks later, John was transferred to a facility that deals specifically with brain trauma victims. That is when intensive speech and cognitive function therapy began. Among many other things, he would do puzzles and play games to reveal how he was processing information and using words.
This Monday, March 25th, was a day of rejoicing -- John finally got to go home just in time for his birthday (March 26th)! It was 62 days after the accident. He will continue therapy at the hospital for an extensive period of time depending on his progress – along with frequent medical testing and appointments. He is hopeful to one day drive again, but that will not be until his brain swelling goes down completely and his eye and fractures are fully healed.
John and his wife are devout Christians. Constantly leaning on God and being continually lifted to Him in prayer have enabled them to walk through this tortuous trial. They give all glory to the Lord for John’s survival and his ongoing recovery!
Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed;
save me and I will be saved,
for you are the one I praise.
Jeremiah 17:14