On December 23, 2023, my husband and I drove to Pennsylvania with our 2 boys to visit family for Christmas. A few days later my youngest son and I became very sick and ended up in the emergency room.
Colton had coronavirus and strep, as well as two abscesses of infection in his neck. He was in the hospital for several weeks and required interventional radiology to drain the abscesses. Inflammation pushed one of his vertebrae over, which caused him to need to wear a neck brace. He finally got that removed on Feb 6.
I was immediately moved to the ICU having influenza B, group A strep, and severe pneumonia. Toxins got into my blood stream which sent me into toxic shock (sepsis). The doctors quickly realized where things were heading, so they decided to put me on ecmo (life support), which completely took over my heart and lung functions. All of my organs ended up shutting down and my heart stopped beating. This was a very traumatic experience for my family as they were told that the rate of mortality was very high. Because of how bad the toxic shock was, I had to be placed on very high levels of blood pressure medicine. These meds narrow the blood vessels in order to increase pressure in hopes to save the main organs. The trade-off however is that it restricts blood flow to the extremities. Due to this, I ended up needing to have all four limbs amputated. It has been a long battle toward recovery. So many terrifying moments including a deadly fungus developing at all four amputations sites, which threatened my life once again.
After almost 6 long months of defying all the odds in the hospital and rehab, I was finally able to go back home, where I have been learning to adjust to a new normal.
One of the books I was reading on our trip to Pennsylvania was titled "Choosing Gratitude", written by Nancy Leigh DeMoss with a forward by Joni Eareckson Tada. It was a book I picked up at a consignment shop and I immediately knew it was a book I would need to read multiple times. I believe the Lord was preparing me ahead of time for the journey I was about to take. On the day that I was driven to the emergency room on December 28, I was wearing a sweatshirt that said, "Always Grateful". Those two words have been with us through this entire journey. So many times when things were at our worst and we were ready to give into despair, we decided to instead thank the Lord for what we DID have and take joy in each new victory - a cup of ice-cream, going outside, a real shower, etc. Even though this is not a path we would have ever chosen for ourselves, we truly do have so much to be thankful for. A grateful heart is a very powerful thing. As I write this, I am reminded of the words written by Joni Eareckson Tada in the forward to Choosing Gratitude. "Most of us are able to thank God for His grace, comfort, and sustaining power IN a trial, but we don't thank Him FOR the problem, just finding Him in it." Wow, that's a tough one! We are still working on that. We'd give almost anything to return to how life was before all of this happened. But it has been awesome to hear people tell us about the impact this has had on them and how it has changed their perspective. I believe our whole life will be full of interactions and unexpected blessings that would never have been possible had this trial not come into our lives.
I am currently learning to use prosthetic arms. Always Grateful Threads was an idea I had to give me practice using the arms and allow me to be productive again! I am hoping this will also be an encouragement to all who wear my shirts to Always be Grateful.
If you would like to learn more about my journey, please read the detailed summary posted to our update page: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15bQcXagHd/
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Books that Ciara was reading on the trip to Pennsylvania.
Sweatshirt that Ciara was wearing when she was driven to the emergency room.