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7th of September 2006, a girl’s 17th birthday.
Instead of celebrating like a teen she sat at home struggling to breathe.
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I know every detail of this story because I’m that girl.
Miracles Still Happen
I was born with a long term progressive illness called Cystic Fibrosis (CF). It affects the lungs and digestion. The body makes more mucus than it should. About 3 years ago, my health deteriorated rapidly. My mum was called into the doc’s office on her own. I started to think the worst. My theory was, if you think the worst, you’re prepared for the worst. When mum came home that day she wasn’t herself. Later she took me upstairs to my bedroom and started to break the news gently. I knew what she was going to say but I was hoping I was wrong. The words came from her mouth “you need a double lung transplant”. My theory was wrong. Thinking the worst and hearing its reality were two different things. I burst into tears. I decided to go ahead going on the transplant list. You need to be sick enough to need the transplant but well enough to survive it. During all this I had lots of questions that no one could answer. Lots of people were praying. I wondered why my health was still deteriorating. During this God gave me comfort. A song came out called “You raise me up”. I related the chorus to God. God also gave me a verse. It’s Jeremiah 29:11. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. (NIV)
On my 17th birthday God kept His promise, as He always does. A phone call opened the door to a second chance of life. All I had to do wa step out and trust God. I write this like it was so easy but this is not half of what I went through. It was draining not just physically but emotionally and mentally also. Not just for me but for my family too. No words can express the suffering I went through. But through suffering comes blessing and that is evidently true in many ways in this MIRACLE!!!
Helen (Emma's mum) writes:
We reached some milestones in our family life recently. My daughter, Emma, celebrated her 18th birthday. That date was also the first anniversary of her double lung transplant. I realised as I looked back on the difficult years of living with Emma’s and Luke’s Cystic Fibrosis and my marriage breakdown that God helped us through each step.
When Emma’s health deteriorated to the point of needing a transplant, God helped us face the awful realities. He gave us His peace (which certainly does pass all understanding!). He surrounded us with the love of family and friends who supported us in practical ways and in prayer. He strengthened us for the roller coaster of emotions as we watched her die a slow death for the 372 days before her transplant. We were all affected in different ways as we watched her suffer endlessly but God helped us through those dark days. Nursing Emma full time, holding down a very part time job, looking after Luke’s routine and trying to keep the family and household together took it’s toll on me and I reached mental, physical, emotional and possibly spiritual burnout. In that state of exhaustion I made a decision that temporarily took me out of the will of God for my life. I expected Him to strike me with lightening but instead He lovingly showed me that He wasn’t trying to spoil my fun, He just wanted what was best for me. I returned to God humbled, understanding for the first time what is meant by His grace. Emma had her transplant on her 17th birthday. It seemed like God had everything planned, we just had to step into the moment. It was an amazing experience. Six weeks post transplant I wrote a list of 70 blessings we had received.
Emma bounced back from the transplant with renewed energy for life. Luke seemed to recover quickly from the traumatic time too. I took longer because I was so exhausted. I felt empty inside and was angry with God for allowing her to suffer so much in her pre transplant days. When I confess that anger to Him, my spirit danced inside me for days. I have come through all this realising it’s all about a relationship with Jesus, staying in touch with Him every moment of the day. He doesn’t always remove the difficulties we face, but He is always with us.
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