A Miracle Is Born
The true story of an unexpected blessing following some unexpected challenges
My father visited me often, and sometimes we went to the little grocery store across the street from the hospital. As he pushed me in the wheelchair, I took great joy in being out in the fresh air. We were near the lakefront, and the breeze felt wonderful on my face after I was cooped up in my hospital room for days. I was nervous about all of the traffic — and the people, especially.
I was only able to eat baby food at that point in my recovery, as most of my nutrition was supplied by the G-tube, essentially a tube in my stomach that was hooked up to a bag hanging next to my bed to supply my body’s nutritional needs. I had been unable to swallow thin liquids or eat solid food throughout my recovery thus far. I had been working on this problem with my speech therapist, who I saw once a day.
I was completely unaware of how thin I had become because of this. I weighed between 135 and 143 pounds when I was injured — mostly muscle, as I worked out and ran constantly at the recreational facility across the street from my dorm at the college in Madison, Wisconsin.
My weight at this point, after a 5-month coma following a collision with a truck, was 83 pounds —…
