Healing Stories

Healing Stories - Arise From Your Grave

By Diane Ouida Wright

It was a nice Friday autumn afternoon in October, and Aaron Wright was at his office working as a technical writer in a management firm located in Virginia. He was very edgy because he felt at the time he should be going home.

For many months, his wife, Shari, had been experiencing pain from a sore throat, which would not succumb to medication for healing. She stopped talking because it irritated her throat to make conversation. She consulted the doctor, but he could not find the problem, so he prescribed some over-the-counter pain tablets to ease the frustrating scratchy throat.

Soon, it was time for Aaron to leave the office and head home. Surprisingly, the drive was easy for a Friday afternoon with not much traffic on the roads. He arrived there in a very short amount of time. He entered the house and called out for Shari, but there was no answer. As he walked into the bedroom, he found her lying motionless in bed, and upon taking her pulse, he discovered it was very weak.

He immediately called 911, and it was not long before paramedics came into the house and they transported her to the intensive care unit of the closest hospital. Immediately, the team of doctors discovered she had accidentally overdosed on the pain tablets so they began treatment to remove the toxins from her body as she lay comatose.

From their tests, it looked as if there could be damage to the liver, but they were not certain as to the extent. They decided to release her from their care and transport her to another ICU where there was the necessary equipment to treat liver abnormalities. However, there were no beds available in that specialized hospital so she had to stay where she was. The waiting was very tense because she needed care that only the other hospital could give her.

Aaron and I felt we were in the way of the medical team so we nervously walked out into the hallway and began to pray for a bed to become available. It wasn't long before the nurse came flying through the doors of ICU out into the hall to tell us a bed had just opened up.

She was transported at midnight on a Saturday night. It was there they discovered her liver was NOT functioning at all. She was so critically ill the doctors felt she would not live, and she was placed on life support. The doctor suggested to Shari's parents, myself, and Aaron that all of the family should be called in. He was afraid the worse was going to happen, and that if she did survive, the medical team would have to do a transplant for which the doctor asked for permission to perform such an operation.

Of course, the family agreed, and her name was placed along the eastern seaboard for a donor liver. We then had to wait for God to stabilize Shari so the surgery could be done to receive the donor liver, and also pray a compatible liver would come in.

In the meantime, the family began coming in for prayer and support for Shari and Aaron. Because the family was so large with many aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews, it wasn't long before the waiting room was filled with love and support that was miraculous within itself. Many prayers were said that evening petitioning God for Shari's healing, and many tears shed at the fear of losing her.

At this time, my son was also informed by the hospital administration as to the cost of surgery as well as outpatient costs. Of course, he really did not have presence of mind to hear all of this as his wife was critically ill! Liver medication is extremely expensive after a transplant, and Aaron was looking at approximately $1500.00 a month out of his pocket that insurance would not cover.

In the meantime, I had been at the hospital for quite some time, so I decided to go home for a while and rest to return later. I had just started to lie down when the telephone rang, and it was Aaron. His voice was quite urgent and very disturbed. He proceeded to inform me regarding the situation with the insurance.

"Mom, what am I going to do? I cannot afford $1500 a month out of my pocket for this kind of expense," he asked quite excitedly. Knowing that he was under a lot of stress from all that was going on, I tried to be as reassuring as I could be.

"There is nobody who can afford something like that unless they are a millionaire. I know there are charitable organizations out there that may help, but also remember this, God is in control of this situation. I know how difficult it is to wait, but we must put our faith in God."

Later on that day, Shari miraculously became stable so the medical team could perform the surgery. Two donor livers arrived, and the medical team picked the most compatible liver for the transplant.

Before surgery was performed on Tuesday morning, my son's minister called the elders together the evening before to anoint Shari with oil and pray over her. At the same time, the family and friends prayed in the waiting room outside of ICU.

The surgery began at 2:30 the next morning. When the doctors opened her to perform the transplant, they were quite amazed and stunned at what they saw. By some miraculous turn of events, Shari's liver was functioning between 60-80%. This defied all scientific explanations, and the doctor immediately halted surgery, sewed her back up, and gave the liver to someone who needed it! God answered two prayers at once -- healing for Shari and no outpatient expense for my son after the surgery.

The medical team immediately went into conference for one hour to make sense of a dead liver that had just come to life. Livers can rejuvenate themselves. However, the doctor was asked before the surgery if that scenario was a possibility, and he said, "That is impossible because her liver is 'dead.' That can only be possible if there is any life in the liver, and from our tests, we find none whatsoever."

The Sunday before Shari's surgery, my pastor preached on Lazarus, and how Jesus had told him to come forth from the grave. In that Bible story, Lazarus had been dead a number of days, but when Jesus told him to come forth, he emerged from the tomb in his burial clothes. Shari never lost her life even though she was close to it, but her liver had died. Since the liver is such a vital organ for life, this near-tragedy parallels the story of Lazarus.

My son had absolutely no idea the sermon that was preached on Sunday at my church. As he was sitting in the waiting room while surgery was taking place, he opened his Bible to the following scripture: John 11:4, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it." God led my son to the same chapter on Lazarus my pastor had related to my church congregation the Sunday before her surgery. God told us in that Scripture Shari would live through this illness.

She came close to death again when she began to experience congestive heart failure, but, that obstacle was also overcome through the grace of God. She is now at home alive and well where she remains strong in her faith in a God who heals.

Before her release from the hospital, the medical team visited her room together, and told her they could not believe she was alive. They attributed her recovery as nothing short of a "miracle."