Asking in Faith | Lea’s Story
Lea Delim
I am Lea Delim, 45 years old, Donnie's wife. When he had his stroke, I witnessed how God mysteriously worked miracles in his life. The Lord was with us during those breathless times of struggles and suffering. As I'm sharing this story, I am in tears again and again thinking about it all, remembering everything while we were in the ER. Donnie was in so much pain, throwing up, perspiring, sitting with his knees folded, yet he never said a word that he was hurting.
When they took him for the CT scan, I was worried and distracted. I was praying that the result would be OK. After they brought him back, he started looking worse, but I didn’t want to think anything negative. Then he told me, “Mommy, I love you!” My heart started beating faster and faster; I cuddled him up, thinking, “Every minute counts.” I was so worried, shocked, afraid. Pastor Michael Tuionetoa then came and prayed for us. Three nurses came, and each of them told me the same thing, “Ma’am, your husband’s brain is bleeding!” The words didn’t sink into my mind, because all I knew at first was it was just his kidney. I didn’t want to hear it was much worse.
The doctors told me, “Start calling your family,” so I called my family and friends. “You only have a few minutes; otherwise, it will be too late for him.” I was shocked at first, heartbroken, helpless, watching Donnie struggling for his life and not knowing what would happen.
That night in the ER, Dr. Nicholas Andrade had an opinion, and other doctors had different opinions: he had moyamoya disease/subarachoid bleed/intracerebral hemorrhage. With all these different opinions, the only option for survival was surgery, which could result in a coma or death.
I prayed and prayed, asking God for an intervention. Thinking of Matthew 7:7, “Ask and it shall be given unto you,” I prayed that God would give me strength to accept whatever happened at the surgery.
While waiting and praying, God worked a miracle. Instead of surgery, one doctor came up with a solution; he placed a tube on Donnie’s brain to remove the bleeding. That night was so intense.
The morning of Thursday, September 13, 2018, an intensivist (the ICU doctor) talked to me and explained Donnie’s condition to me. She said that Donnie was very critical and, in reality, that he was going to die. She repeatedly said that again and again. I told her, “STOP! Is it not supposed to be you the one to calm me?” Dr. Andrade, the neurosurgeon, was telling me he would observe him.
The Hopes, Prayers, and More Prayers
Friday night of September 14, 2018, Donnie struggled like a roller coaster, with his blood pressure going up and down. Dr. Todd Patrick needed me to make a decision for surgery the next day, a decision that could lead to a 50/50 chance Donnie might live in a coma or die. That morning of Sabbath, September 16, 2018, Donnie was in a very critical state, as his blood pressure was in the 200s. I was scared, in tears, and knelt down in prayer, begging the Lord for a miracle and healing! Dr. Patrick wanted a decision for surgery that very moment. It was my most stressful situation. I begged the Lord to give me wisdom that whatever decision I made should be “medically right.”
A lot of people from all over the world prayed earnestly to the Lord. Pastor Tuionetoa and the whole Tyler Seventh-day Adventist Church family in Tyler, Texas, united for an intercessory prayer for Donnie. Friends, nurses and other friends in the medical field came and helped me to understand and discussed with my children the consequences and possibilities of surgery. We prayed and prayed and meditated together. People from church gathered in the waiting room, singing and praying. Surgery wasn’t the best option, I thought, as it might cause him to be in a coma or die.
Around 3:00 p.m., Dr. Nghia Throng mentioned amazedly, “I don’t know what you people did or what I did, but I will take it.” Donnie was temporarily stable. I knew it was an amazing miracle. Dr. Throng could see that something was happening differently. After a couple of hours, Dr. Patrick planned for a different surgery: taking a small portion of Donnie’s skull out to avoid so much swelling.
The next day, Sunday morning, September 16, 2018, the doctor didn’t do the surgery on Donnie’s skull because the swelling was down. But again, abrupt changes occurred: his left lung collapsed. They did a rapid procedure, a bronchoscopy, and it was done smoothly. Praise God for another miracle!
A lot of things happened the next couple of days: heart failure, blood pressure going up and down, and his oxygen level going up. From the time he was in the critical stage in the ICU room, a lot of things happened from time to time. I knew during those times, with all the prayers, the Lord was with him. Every time I prayed to the Lord, I always asked Him for healing and miracles. The night of September 17, I knelt down in prayer and submitted my life and Donnie’s life to the Lord, saying, “May Your will be done, oh Lord!” God’s will, whatever His plan for Donnie.
On the morning of September 18, 2018, when I woke up was the first time I felt peace within me, and I was able to smile and laugh with all the visitors in spite of the situation.
God used the doctors as an instrument. Dr. Andrade, Donnie’s neurosurgeon, was very helpful and did his best. He explained all the details. I’d see him looking disturbed or shaking his head most of the time, or in quiet times you couldn’t even hear a word, but one time he exclaimed, “Wow! What a dramatic change from yesterday!” I knew that God was with us. These hopes gave me strength.
Another crazy day that I can’t forget was Friday afternoon, September 21, 2018. Dr. Throng told me again straight forward that Donnie was very ill and he was going to die. I was shocked and in tears that they would give me no hope.
Sabbath, September 22, 2018, was another stressful day. Donnie’s blood pressure went really high, from 155 to 205. Sunday, September 23, 2018, he had an infection and had a high white blood count. September 24, after 12 days of struggle, the respiratorist did a tracheostomy to avoid infection, and Donnie had a peg tube procedure.
As the days passed, a lot of abrupt changes happened every day, and Donnie had several tests: CT scans, MRI, ultrasound and X-ray. He was on fentanyl and versed, and sedated on and off for 14 days.
After having the big storm, I saw the end of the rainbow, where hopes arise. September 26, Wednesday, his tube from the brain was off, and he was less sedated. Although his heart rate was high, blood pressure a little higher, and he had difficulties on his ventilator, he started moving his finger and slightly opened his eyes. Tears shed from my eyes, pain eased and changed into happiness at every little progress that day. That was, for me, the big miracle!
Donnie spent 26 days in the ICU, a month of sessions for in-patient rehabilitation, and a month for his out-patient therapy at the ETMC rehabilitation. He had speech therapy, physical therapy and occupational therapy. After all the therapy, the trache came off, and he was able to talk, eat well, write, walk and get better every day.
I praise and thank God, for He is the true, living and powerful God! The Lord heals the broken hearted, sets the captives free; He made the lame to walk, the blind to see, and indeed healed Donnie from his stroke. I thank the Lord for these miracles, the healing of Donnie’s life. He gave him back to me. I praise you, Lord, for being the great Healer.
After a lot of things happened, the cloudy time, all the ups and downs, all the tears and pain and sleepless nights, these experiences made me stronger, and I realize we should always treasure our life, our health and our relationship with the Lord. With those prayers in our church, our relationship to one another became stronger and united.
Thank you to the doctors, nurses, respiratorist, employees, therapists, nurses and nurses’ aides. I also thank the Lord for the people who went along on our journey with their prayers, friends who supported us, our Filipino friends, pastor and family, our church family, and even their friends who they asked to include Donnie in their prayers.
My Facebook friends around the world, our families, you all walked with us on our journey. A lot of you prayed for Donnie, helped us and fed us for many days, drove for my boys, and helped with some errands. A lot of people supported us financially. Thank you for the cards, your prayers, your encouragements; for those who visited Donnie at the hospital and rehab, and those songs of praises to the Lord that lifted us and cheered us; for those of you who played instruments, and some of you who stayed with Donnie while I was gone; for Donnie’s manager, superiors and co-workers, and my work family. Miracles!
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Jessica Anderson is the church clerk for the Tyler Seventh-day Adventist Church in Tyler, Texas.
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Asking in Faith | Donnie’s Story
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Donnie and Lea Delim’s story first appeared in THE FLAME Special Miracles Issue 2019, a Texas Conference quarterly magazine. Find the entire issue at issuu.com/texasadventist.