THIS IS IS A LONG ARTICLE THAT IS REAL PERSONAL TO ME AND MY FAMILY. I REALLY WANTED THOSE WHO HAVE JUST MET JAMIE IN THE LAST 9 YEARS TO UNDERSTAND A LITTLE MORE ABOUT WHERE SHE HAS COME FROM AND GONE THROUGH TO GET WHERE SHE IS TODAY. I SURE DO LOVE AND APPRECIATE MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS FAR MORE EVEN THAN I DID 9 YEARS AGO! Today marked an anniversary of a dreadful day for Jamie and our family that turned out to be a blessing beyond what we could have imagined. On July 14, 2004, we had been living in Trenton, GA for about 7 months. I was still settling into a new work at a congregation of about 45 members and Jamie was flourishing in a new job with an insurance company in Chattanooga. Promotions and opportunities seemed to be abounding for her and we spent a lot of evenings planning for our future and how the next few years of our lives would play out. We went to bed on that Wednesday night like 1300 others before. When I awoke on Thursday, July 15, 2004 I heard the alarm going off at about 6 AM I was a little aggravated that Jamie had not turned it off. She was not in bed and as I rolled over to her side to turn it off, I realized she was sitting on the floor. I asked her what was wrong and she said she didn’t feel well. That would be an understatement that would be fully realized in the next few hours. As soon as I saw her I carried her to the bathroom and she got sick and I realized she had a serious problem. I drove her furiously to the hospital and the stroke team was waiting on us. This began a series of 10 days in ICU with slowly progressing reports from the doctor that started with “I am not sure if she will make it or not” at about noon that day. I was never any more thankful to see anyone than I was to see Buddy McKenzie walk in the doors at Memorial that morning about 9:30 AM. Living in a place for less than 7 months, no family or long term friends close by, it really helped cement a friendship that has grow stronger each day between the McKenzies and the Walkers. Laurie and Louise arrived later that morning while Leigh was finishing up a trip to Hawaii with friends and we began a vigil of waiting on news from the doctors. When Leigh arrived home a couple of days later, I received more support from our daughters than I could have imagined. In spite of school schedules and work they all began to make arrangements to be here to assist with their mother’s recovery. By midnight, the doctors told me there is “about a 50-50 chance she’ll make it through the night’. Thankfully, the odds were in her favor and God answered our prayers. Over the next 10 days she slowly improved until she was abler to be transported by ambulance to Siskin Rehab Hospital where she would undergo intense physical therapy for the next 4 months as an inpatient and then 3 months of ‘Day Hospital” therapy, where I would take her to Siskin, three days a week at 8 AM and pick her up between 4-5 Pm each day. Our insurance was paying $39 per day for the therapy but unfortunately Siskin charged $1531 at the time. When Jamie was discharged we had a bill that, after negotiations exceeded $180,000! After closing my retirement account and paying what I could with that, we were blessed to be able to pay off the balance completely at $855.50 per month for the next 90 months! Unfortunately, the damage to Jamie from the stroke left her unable to continue work and she was forced to go onto disability at age 47. Her monthly disability check is now less than what she usually earned in a week of work. But God has blessed us beyond what I could have ever prayed for or even asked for in ways we could have never believed. I must express our thanks to Faulkner University, who when we contacted them to inform them, that because of the overwhelming financial burden that Jamie’s illness placed on us that only one of the girls could return to school and one would have to stay and work to help pay for that. Within two days I received a call from Faulkner and was informed that the President of the University had a special scholarship fund and that I was to “send them back down there and things would be taken care of”. I can never repay Faulkner for what that meant to Jamie and me and our girls. I share Jamie’s story with you not for your sympathy or to make you sad. Rather for you to rejoice with us. Since then she has been able, with God’s care, to attend the weddings of our 3 daughters, the birth of our grandchildren, make two trips to the Philippines to teach a large number of women and children and be very active in our congregation here. I want her story to encourage you! When Jamie was released from Day Hospital in early 2005, there was a lot she couldn’t do that she could have done 7 months earlier. But God doesn’t ask Jamie (or me or you) to do what we can’t do, He asks us to do what we can. Yes, 9 years ago, last week, Jamie and I had dreams of retirement and living overseas and what we thought were plans that God would want to use us for in the later years in our lives. God apparently had a different plan in mind for us. He has proven to us that He can and will still use us. I am thankful so much for the courage that Jamie has shown in battling through a number of challenges that she was told she could never do—like take a mission trip and be able to run, as two examples! She would tell you and I would too, thanks so much for all your prayers and encouragement during the last 9 years and I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us in the coming days! We will never be able, on this side of eternity, to express our appreciation to you for all you have meant to us in our lives. God bless you for what you mean to us!
Posted on: Mon, 15 Jul 2013 16:20:03 +0000
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