July 14, 2025 • 22 mins
Carey was a young husband with a newborn son when his 23-year-old wife nearly died. What doctors found left them speechless. What happened next? Even more miraculous. In this emotional episode, Carey recounts one of the scariest—and most faith-affirming—days of his life. Was it just a freak medical event, or a moment of divine intervention?
👀 In this episode of When You Look, Carey shares:
• The morning that changed everything
• Watching doctors prepare defibrillators
• The impossible recovery from a complete heart block
• A hospital bill miracle that left him speechless
🙏 Whether you're skeptical or faithful, this story will challenge your assumptions about prayer, healing, and hope.
🔔 Subscribe for more powerful stories that make you ask, "Coincidence or God?"
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Chapters
00:30 - Intros
01:30 - Wife Unresponsive
03:00 - Ambulance Ride & Emergency Room
04:20 - Shock Paddles & Waiting Room Terror
06:00 - Diagnosis: Complete Heart Block
08:00 - Infection & Decision to Remove Pacemaker
09:00 - “We Don’t Know What Will Happen”
10:30 - Silent Prayers, Loud Faith
12:00 - A Miracle Unfolds
14:00 - No Heart Damage? No Way.
16:20 - Coincidence or God?
18:00 - The $29,000 Hospital Bill Twist
20:30 - The Final Cherry on Top
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Here I am standing in the waiting room knowing something
seems to be out with their heart.
Not exactly sure what's going on.
And Nick, I'm telling you, I, I sat there in the waiting room
watching the fish in the aquarium, you know, just
thinking about being a single dad.
It it was one of the scariest days of my life.
Welcome to When You Look, where ordinary people share their
(00:23):
extraordinary experiences and you get to decide, was it
coincidence or God? Carrie, thanks so much for being
on When You Look. Stoked to have you here.
Mick, it is great to be here. I've been excited ever since I
heard about this show. So let's do it.
Well, really excited. As mentioned.
Before we get into your story though, we know that the
(00:44):
listeners want to know a little bit more about you.
So tell us a little bit about yourself.
Yeah, well, I'm a redneck kid who grew up to be a pastor, grew
up in Texas in the middle of theoil fields in a little town and
youngest of five. Married, have 5 kids of my own
now, 7 grandkids. Happy, happy, happy as can be.
(01:07):
Blessed. Man, that's awesome.
Glad to hear about the family aswell.
Well, give us a little bit of back story and then set the
stage ultimately for the entire story and how things went for
you and how you experienced them.
Yeah, well, absolutely. We got to rewind about 30 years.
My wife and I coming up on our let's see, what is it?
(01:28):
Our 35th wedding anniversary this year.
And this was within the first two years of our of our
marriage. So a long time ago.
We are expecting our first kid. We knew it was going to be a boy
and very excited. The day came and went.
He was born beautiful. You know just that that perfect
time of life when you think everything is is going exactly
(01:50):
the way that you think it should.
Well, about 2 1/2 months after that I went to the gym to work
out in the morning. My wife had been up with the
baby in the night and and was usually still in bed when I got
home. Well, this particular day I got
home and she was still in bed. And so I go and I get ready for
work and all that stuff and I goin to give her a kiss and she's
(02:14):
not waking up. And when I get her just a little
bit conscious, her eyes are rolling back in her head and she
can't speak. And it was, it was panic moment,
man. Yeah, I'll bet.
Wow. So what did?
What'd you do? Well, this is really funny.
First thing I did was call my mother-in-law.
(02:36):
They lived probably 15 minutes away and my my thinking was that
it was a blood sugar issue because my wife had struggled
with blood sugar issues all the time, would feel faint, that
kind of thing. So I thought maybe she's just
fainting and so I called my mother-in-law.
She started coming over. I ran downstairs and start
(02:56):
cooking an egg something you know, some get a protein in her
body whatever. Well, I get back up there and
she still is just unable to talkis not waking up.
And so the minute her mom got there and looked at her, she
said we need to call 911. So we did, we called the
ambulance, was there probably within 10 minutes.
They, you know, checked her out and very quickly had her on a
(03:19):
Gurney going down the stairs to head toward the ambulance.
And, you know, here I am with this tiny little baby in the
next room and just just kind of freaking out.
You know, I have no idea what's going on.
And so I jump in the front of the ambulance, my mother-in-law
takes the baby and we're off to the emergency room.
(03:41):
And when we get there, we rush in and, you know, they give me a
all the stinking paperwork to fill out, you know, so I'm
sitting in there just frantically filling out this
paperwork. And my wife has been taken back
to an emergency bivouac, whatever they call it, those,
those places with all the curtains around them.
And so after I finish the paperwork, the lady points me
(04:03):
down the hall to where she whereI can find her.
And as I'm walking into that area, I'm intercepted by a
nurse. Kind of makes sense.
But I can see past her. The curtain is open halfway and
there's this gang of people around my wife and they have
those little shock paddle thingssitting out on the table.
(04:25):
And about that time somebody looks and sees me and pulls the
curtain and this lady shuffles me off to the waiting room.
So here I am, standing in the waiting room knowing something
seems to be out with her heart. Not exactly sure what's going
on. And Mick, I'm telling you, I, I
sat there in the waiting room watching the fish in the
aquarium, you know, just thinking about being a single
(04:49):
dad. It, it was one of the scariest
days of my life. And so I don't remember time
frames. I just remember finally somebody
came and told me that they had put in a temporary pacemaker.
My wife's heart rate had droppedfrom a normal resting 75 to 80
(05:11):
beats a minute to about 20 beatsa minute.
And she's 23 years old. I mean, this kind of stuff just
does not happen to a 23 year old, not typically.
And so that's exactly what the the doc was telling me was this
is very strange and does not happen to someone your wife's
age. And so we finally got out of the
(05:34):
emergency room into an ICU room.And, and when I got to see her,
she was her normal cheerful self.
She seemed just totally fine. And the doctor said, yeah,
that's, that's very normal. You know, her heart's working
like it should now and she's gotall the oxygen she needs, she's
got the blood flow and, and she's doing fine.
So, you know, what we need to figure out is what happened and
(05:56):
what we can do to prevent it from happening again or, or to
remedy the situation. And so Long story short, 5-6
days go by, they're still scratching their heads.
They're looking up every medicaljournal they can and there's
just no case studies for someoneher age having this issue.
And what they finally diagnosed,they called a complete heart
block, which is nothing to do with the blood vessels.
(06:19):
Like you normally will hear a heart attack with cholesterol
and all that didn't have anything to do with that.
It was a electrical system of her heart had essentially gotten
blocked. And there's these, these two
main nerves that come into your heart that do the thump, thump,
you know, they kind of fire in sequence.
And both of them were blocked and all these little ancillary
(06:41):
nerves that go in. We're just keeping her heart
going at that 20 beats a minute.And she wasn't getting the main
firing that's intended. And so they were scratching
their heads. They didn't know how this could
have happened. They, they see this a lot in
older patients and thus the pacemakers for for older
patients. And so she's she's there in the
(07:01):
hospital bed, looks like we could go home at any minute.
But but they've, they've run this pacemaker and threw a vein
here in her neck. And so she's not going anywhere
until they can figure this out. And you know, they're coming up
all kinds of theories of virus, you know what all kind of stuff
they don't know. Well, about two days later, she
starts developing a really high fever.
(07:22):
And their best guess is that somehow it got infected when
they put that pacemaker in and the only remedy make is to take
the pacemaker out and to flush the wound with, you know,
antibiotics and that kind of stuff.
And my first question is, OK, that's fine.
But what about her heart? You know what's going to happen.
(07:43):
And, you know, I, I still remember that doctor, Doctor
Levine, look at me in the eye and saying, I had to be honest
with you. We don't know.
We don't know what's going to happen.
She could drop right back to that 20 beats a minute.
That's most likely. And so we, you know, we start
having conversation about when you want to do this and you
know, he was recommending withinthe next three to four hours.
(08:04):
And so-called her parents. They were graduates of Moody
Bible Institute and had been on the mission field and serve at
Campus Crusade. And you know, I was a part time
youth pastor at the time as well.
So we had all these this Christian network of friends.
We just got it out to everybody to start praying and people
(08:24):
prayed and prayed and prayed andmy in laws are calling.
You know, we got thousands of people playing, praying for my
father in law's line is 1000 of our best friends are praying for
you right now. You know, so time comes.
We got to take that thing out. And so it was it was a thing
they did right there in the room.
They didn't take her anywhere. And, you know, it's this big
long tube thing and they just undid the sutures around it and,
(08:49):
and started pulling it out and nothing, nothing happened.
She just, she just seemed totally normal still.
And they're monitoring her pulseand her heartbeat.
Got the stethoscope, everything's fine.
And the doc's scratching his head even more.
He's, he's going, this is reallystrange.
(09:09):
Just this does not happen. And so finally they do all the
Ek, GS and that kind of stuff after the fact and discover that
that her heart is beating normally as it should have been
beating before this whole thing happened and.
They. They're just saying to us, you
just do not come out of a complete heart block.
(09:31):
You just don't. That doesn't happen.
And so, you know, of course we're praising the Lord, all
that sort of stuff. Amazing difference to our
attitudes, my morale, obviously not going to be a single dad,
that's for sure. And you know, there's this,
there's just nothing I can say to express how I felt at that
(09:53):
moment. It was one of those moments
where the elation of disaster averted was just, it was, it was
palpable. Me, I could taste it, I could
touch it. It was really just incredible
experience mate. Yeah, wow.
So Carrie, take us back to some of the conversation that you and
(10:15):
your wife had, because at this point you talk about she's
essentially normal to the to theeye, if you will.
And you're thinking, hey, we could be discharged at any
moment here. And a granted, they weren't
letting you do that, right? But you're talking about how
she's fully lucid, fully there. Talk to us a little bit about
that conversation and how that went.
(10:37):
Yeah, well, you know, we both are trying to put our money
where her mouth is when it comesto our faith, you know, and
trust the Lord that he knows what he's doing.
It's hard in those moments because, you know, all those
questions come to mind. You know, God, why are you
letting this happen? You know, all that kind of
stuff. And you know, we, we knew from
(10:57):
our own experience, the power ofprayer.
We're, we're hoping that something different is going to
happen. And at the same time, we're
talking about what ifs, you know, what if they can't figure
this out? What if you have to have a
pacemaker installed, you know, all that sort of stuff?
I mean, that was the, the worst case prognosis.
They were saying she would have to have a permanent pacemaker,
(11:18):
which which in his words is veryunfortunate at 23 years old, you
know, So, you know, we're, we'rejust trying to roll with it
that, you know, pacemakers better than dead, you know, So
we, we were just kind of resigned that that's probably
the way it was going to go. Yeah, and how many days in was
(11:38):
this? Oh gosh, she was, she was acting
normal within the first day. I mean, once they got that
temporary pacemaker in. And so it was probably from day
one through day 4 before that fever kicked in.
And then she was, she was just feeling so poorly.
There wasn't much conversation going on then cuz she was
sleeping a lot. She's trying to stay warm, you
(12:01):
know, all that stuff. Yeah, wow.
So you guys make the decision, yeah, the pacemaker gets
removed. And then how long does it take
for that feeling of elation to begin to set in as the
realization of everything is OK also begins to set in?
(12:22):
Yeah, man, I think, I think the first 30 seconds were the most
horrific just because you, you see the thing come out and she
and I, you know, just just eyes locked with each other and, and
you know that, that silent language you have with your
spouse, you know, with your eyesand stuff.
And she's looking at me like, well, nothing's happening.
(12:46):
You know, that that kind of a look.
And it, it was like that too good to be true thing.
You're waiting, you know, well, maybe it takes a minute, Maybe
your heart stays on autopilot for a bit and then drops in.
And it was within probably 2-3 minutes.
The, the doc was saying this is,this is unusual.
You know, she should have already gone semi unconscious by
(13:08):
now if it was going to happen. And then 5 minutes, 10 minutes,
you start hoping and within 15 we're we're just confident God
has done something amazing here.Wow, very cool.
Well, you just mentioned some timing stuff there.
The doctor says, you know, typically within two or three
(13:29):
minutes, somebody semi consciousat that point.
So actually take us back, let's kind of rewind to the beginning
because you had described a fairbit of elapsed time.
So we don't know when this all started, right?
And you get home. So some period of time's elapsed
up until you get home. But even if it didn't, even if
(13:52):
it happens the split second you get home, it's about 15 minutes
or so. You were talking as you're
making the egg and that type of thing.
And then another 10:00-ish untilthe ambulance arrives.
So we're talking kind of at a minimum 25 ish minutes.
We don't know how much longer than that.
So here here kind of comes the question what kind of physical
(14:16):
or brain impact did any of that low heart rate and semi
conscious and and completely notnormal state have on your wife?
Yeah, those were concerns for mebecause, you know, I didn't know
anything about any of this. And, you know, the doctor said
(14:36):
that 20 beats a minute roughly is what her heart was beating
at. And that's barely enough to keep
you alive, is what he said. And so I'm immediately thinking
lack of blood flow to the brain and, and it may be the heart
being damaged and all that kind of stuff.
And we found out after the wholething was done, part of, part of
what they were amazed about was that once her heart's beating
(15:00):
normally and everything, they're, they're doing
ultrasounds, they're doing the EKG, they're doing all that
stuff to kind of assess what's happened to her heart.
And they were, they were saying normally you would see some kind
of damage to the heart. You would see muscles that have
torn from from trying too hard or you would see some sort of a
a death to some of the cells in the heart.
(15:22):
And her heart looked like, you know, brand new heart.
It was just nothing about it that that indicated she had ever
had a complete heart plot. And you know, you Fast forward
some from there. Every time we had a baby from
then on, they would hear her story and want to get her
checked out and would want it a cardiologist in the room when
she delivers. So every one of the kids was
(15:43):
scheduled and every single one of those cardiologists would see
her, her then current EKG and ultrasound and say you don't
have any damage to your heart. How did you have a complete
heart block? I mean, same thing, just this,
this repeated over the next 8 or10 years, reminder of what had
happened and that there was absolutely no harm to her at
(16:05):
all. And brain wise, I mean, she's
smarter today than she was then.So, you know, I don't, I don't
see any evidence of brain problems.
Yeah, wow. Well, we asked this question of
every guest, and that is was it coincidence or God that this
worked out the way it did? Yeah, well, I'm definitely
(16:28):
convinced it was God. I've been a follower of Jesus
Christ since I was five years old.
My wife, we, we, we joke, we, wetrusted in Christ the same time,
the same day, the same hour. We don't know that, but it was
definitely the same year. She was four years old.
I was five years old. And, you know, we both have have
followed the Lord for years. We prayed, we've seen answers to
(16:49):
prayer. We've seen even since this event
that I'm describing for you, lots of things happen over the
years that have been answered Prayers and and yeah, I'm just
convinced, you know, God, God did this.
Yeah, right on. Well, the follow on question
that we ask every guest is what's been the impact or how
has your life changed as a result of seeing this as God in
(17:14):
action? Yeah, well, we've had the
privilege of sharing this story with so many people who have
been in similar crazy circumstances just to give hope
that God does hear, he does answer prayer.
You know, you always have to kind of give the caveat.
But he's God, you know, he gets to decide when and where and,
and can't guarantee anything. But we do know we have a God who
(17:36):
listens and he answers. We also have, I guess through
our, through our adult lives, had opportunities to trust God
in similar circumstances, whether it's a heart condition
or a financial crisis or something, where the faith that
we learned in this time gets tested again and we get to go
(17:58):
back in the annals of memory and, and remind ourselves, he
was faithful then, he'll be faithful now.
So it's been a stepping stone. It's been a a brick in the path,
so to speak, that's helped us build our faith over the years
in and even sharing the story helps others build their faith.
Yeah, a stepping stone. Yeah.
And you know, I just thought of this too.
(18:19):
I think another, another benefit.
We have four more kids now, you know, which would not have
happened if if we'd lost her then.
So kids, grandkids, all kinds ofblessing that have come because
of the answer to prayer. Yeah.
Praise God. Praise God, Kerry.
Well, super awesome of you to share the story.
(18:40):
Lots of really unique and cool details in there in terms of no
impact to your wife and and yet all of it stemming from an
incredibly abnormal scenario to happen for someone who's healthy
and 23 years old. So really quite miraculous.
Thanks a bunch from coming on when you.
Look. Oh yeah.
(19:00):
Great to have you. Absolutely.
Can I give you a little cherry on the top?
Go right ahead. This was crazy, man.
After she was feeling normal. The the thing had been taken out
all that they're trying to figure out what happened.
The lady from the finance officecomes up and she's standing in
the room. They're talking to us.
And you know, this was what 1980, gosh, 1993 is when this
(19:23):
happened. So she comes up and she says, I
came up to talk to you about the, the financial piece of
this. You know, how, how are you
planning to take care of this? And we, I just started a new
job. We had no insurance and you
know, we kind of look at each other and I said, well, how much
is it? And she said, well, at this
point it's, it's $29,000, which you know, that's 1990 three
(19:45):
$29,000. Now it would be a couple of
100,000 probably. And we just kind of laughed
looking at each other. And I, I just told her, I'll
come down and talk to you about it later.
And so I did and telling our situation, no insurance, all
this stuff. And she, she says, well, there's
this program, it hasn't existed very long.
It's called the Colorado Resident Discount Program.
(20:05):
And if you have certain income criteria, you might qualify.
So I fill out all this application and I'm telling you,
Mick, we had something like $278in our bank account.
That was it. And this Colorado Resident
Discount program paid for all but $270 of the bill.
(20:29):
Is that just a nice little cherry on the top?
Oh, Carrie, that's so good. It was amazing.
It was really cool. Go God.
Yeah, I still have the the hospital bill with a 0 net
balance, you know, circled and my wife.
Back then there was a commercialfor MetLife insurance on TV that
said get met, it pays and my wife writes on it.
(20:50):
Get God, he pays. Yeah.
Wow. Oh, that's so good.
The 278 versus the 270. Oh man.
Yeah, so we went and bought burritos or something.
I don't remember what we did. Like any good Coloradan would
do, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(21:13):
Wow. Well, Carrie, I mean, it sounds
like this one keeps getting better.
Any other cherries to add on to the on to that?
One. Not for this particular one, no.
Yeah, well, thanks a bunch man for being on, especially for the
laughter at the end of what was already an amazing story, but
just to to hear God's provision in two different ways over all
(21:36):
of this. You know, absolutely.
Really wonderful. Well, thanks a bunch for
sharing. We wish you the best and we'll
chat soon all. Right, Mick, Thanks.
Well, there you have it. Was it coincidence or God?
You decide for yourself, but I believe you just heard a story
for his glory. When You Look is powered by the
(21:58):
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(22:19):
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Thanks so much for listening andGod bless.
Here I am standing in the waiting room knowing something
seems to be out with their heart.
Not exactly sure what's going on.
And Nick, I'm telling you, I, I sat there in the waiting room
watching the fish in the aquarium, you know, just
thinking about being a single dad.
It it was one of the scariest days of my life.
Welcome to When You Look, where ordinary people share their
(00:23):
extraordinary experiences and you get to decide, was it
coincidence or God? Carrie, thanks so much for being
on When You Look. Stoked to have you here.
Mick, it is great to be here. I've been excited ever since I
heard about this show. So let's do it.
Well, really excited. As mentioned.
Before we get into your story though, we know that the
(00:44):
listeners want to know a little bit more about you.
So tell us a little bit about yourself.
Yeah, well, I'm a redneck kid who grew up to be a pastor, grew
up in Texas in the middle of theoil fields in a little town and
youngest of five. Married, have 5 kids of my own
now, 7 grandkids. Happy, happy, happy as can be.
(01:07):
Blessed. Man, that's awesome.
Glad to hear about the family aswell.
Well, give us a little bit of back story and then set the
stage ultimately for the entire story and how things went for
you and how you experienced them.
Yeah, well, absolutely. We got to rewind about 30 years.
My wife and I coming up on our let's see, what is it?
(01:28):
Our 35th wedding anniversary this year.
And this was within the first two years of our of our
marriage. So a long time ago.
We are expecting our first kid. We knew it was going to be a boy
and very excited. The day came and went.
He was born beautiful. You know just that that perfect
time of life when you think everything is is going exactly
(01:50):
the way that you think it should.
Well, about 2 1/2 months after that I went to the gym to work
out in the morning. My wife had been up with the
baby in the night and and was usually still in bed when I got
home. Well, this particular day I got
home and she was still in bed. And so I go and I get ready for
work and all that stuff and I goin to give her a kiss and she's
(02:14):
not waking up. And when I get her just a little
bit conscious, her eyes are rolling back in her head and she
can't speak. And it was, it was panic moment,
man. Yeah, I'll bet.
Wow. So what did?
What'd you do? Well, this is really funny.
First thing I did was call my mother-in-law.
(02:36):
They lived probably 15 minutes away and my my thinking was that
it was a blood sugar issue because my wife had struggled
with blood sugar issues all the time, would feel faint, that
kind of thing. So I thought maybe she's just
fainting and so I called my mother-in-law.
She started coming over. I ran downstairs and start
(02:56):
cooking an egg something you know, some get a protein in her
body whatever. Well, I get back up there and
she still is just unable to talkis not waking up.
And so the minute her mom got there and looked at her, she
said we need to call 911. So we did, we called the
ambulance, was there probably within 10 minutes.
They, you know, checked her out and very quickly had her on a
(03:19):
Gurney going down the stairs to head toward the ambulance.
And, you know, here I am with this tiny little baby in the
next room and just just kind of freaking out.
You know, I have no idea what's going on.
And so I jump in the front of the ambulance, my mother-in-law
takes the baby and we're off to the emergency room.
(03:41):
And when we get there, we rush in and, you know, they give me a
all the stinking paperwork to fill out, you know, so I'm
sitting in there just frantically filling out this
paperwork. And my wife has been taken back
to an emergency bivouac, whatever they call it, those,
those places with all the curtains around them.
And so after I finish the paperwork, the lady points me
(04:03):
down the hall to where she whereI can find her.
And as I'm walking into that area, I'm intercepted by a
nurse. Kind of makes sense.
But I can see past her. The curtain is open halfway and
there's this gang of people around my wife and they have
those little shock paddle thingssitting out on the table.
(04:25):
And about that time somebody looks and sees me and pulls the
curtain and this lady shuffles me off to the waiting room.
So here I am, standing in the waiting room knowing something
seems to be out with her heart. Not exactly sure what's going
on. And Mick, I'm telling you, I, I
sat there in the waiting room watching the fish in the
aquarium, you know, just thinking about being a single
(04:49):
dad. It, it was one of the scariest
days of my life. And so I don't remember time
frames. I just remember finally somebody
came and told me that they had put in a temporary pacemaker.
My wife's heart rate had droppedfrom a normal resting 75 to 80
(05:11):
beats a minute to about 20 beatsa minute.
And she's 23 years old. I mean, this kind of stuff just
does not happen to a 23 year old, not typically.
And so that's exactly what the the doc was telling me was this
is very strange and does not happen to someone your wife's
age. And so we finally got out of the
(05:34):
emergency room into an ICU room.And, and when I got to see her,
she was her normal cheerful self.
She seemed just totally fine. And the doctor said, yeah,
that's, that's very normal. You know, her heart's working
like it should now and she's gotall the oxygen she needs, she's
got the blood flow and, and she's doing fine.
So, you know, what we need to figure out is what happened and
(05:56):
what we can do to prevent it from happening again or, or to
remedy the situation. And so Long story short, 5-6
days go by, they're still scratching their heads.
They're looking up every medicaljournal they can and there's
just no case studies for someoneher age having this issue.
And what they finally diagnosed,they called a complete heart
block, which is nothing to do with the blood vessels.
(06:19):
Like you normally will hear a heart attack with cholesterol
and all that didn't have anything to do with that.
It was a electrical system of her heart had essentially gotten
blocked. And there's these, these two
main nerves that come into your heart that do the thump, thump,
you know, they kind of fire in sequence.
And both of them were blocked and all these little ancillary
(06:41):
nerves that go in. We're just keeping her heart
going at that 20 beats a minute.And she wasn't getting the main
firing that's intended. And so they were scratching
their heads. They didn't know how this could
have happened. They, they see this a lot in
older patients and thus the pacemakers for for older
patients. And so she's she's there in the
(07:01):
hospital bed, looks like we could go home at any minute.
But but they've, they've run this pacemaker and threw a vein
here in her neck. And so she's not going anywhere
until they can figure this out. And you know, they're coming up
all kinds of theories of virus, you know what all kind of stuff
they don't know. Well, about two days later, she
starts developing a really high fever.
(07:22):
And their best guess is that somehow it got infected when
they put that pacemaker in and the only remedy make is to take
the pacemaker out and to flush the wound with, you know,
antibiotics and that kind of stuff.
And my first question is, OK, that's fine.
But what about her heart? You know what's going to happen.
(07:43):
And, you know, I, I still remember that doctor, Doctor
Levine, look at me in the eye and saying, I had to be honest
with you. We don't know.
We don't know what's going to happen.
She could drop right back to that 20 beats a minute.
That's most likely. And so we, you know, we start
having conversation about when you want to do this and you
know, he was recommending withinthe next three to four hours.
(08:04):
And so-called her parents. They were graduates of Moody
Bible Institute and had been on the mission field and serve at
Campus Crusade. And you know, I was a part time
youth pastor at the time as well.
So we had all these this Christian network of friends.
We just got it out to everybody to start praying and people
(08:24):
prayed and prayed and prayed andmy in laws are calling.
You know, we got thousands of people playing, praying for my
father in law's line is 1000 of our best friends are praying for
you right now. You know, so time comes.
We got to take that thing out. And so it was it was a thing
they did right there in the room.
They didn't take her anywhere. And, you know, it's this big
long tube thing and they just undid the sutures around it and,
(08:49):
and started pulling it out and nothing, nothing happened.
She just, she just seemed totally normal still.
And they're monitoring her pulseand her heartbeat.
Got the stethoscope, everything's fine.
And the doc's scratching his head even more.
He's, he's going, this is reallystrange.
(09:09):
Just this does not happen. And so finally they do all the
Ek, GS and that kind of stuff after the fact and discover that
that her heart is beating normally as it should have been
beating before this whole thing happened and.
They. They're just saying to us, you
just do not come out of a complete heart block.
(09:31):
You just don't. That doesn't happen.
And so, you know, of course we're praising the Lord, all
that sort of stuff. Amazing difference to our
attitudes, my morale, obviously not going to be a single dad,
that's for sure. And you know, there's this,
there's just nothing I can say to express how I felt at that
(09:53):
moment. It was one of those moments
where the elation of disaster averted was just, it was, it was
palpable. Me, I could taste it, I could
touch it. It was really just incredible
experience mate. Yeah, wow.
So Carrie, take us back to some of the conversation that you and
(10:15):
your wife had, because at this point you talk about she's
essentially normal to the to theeye, if you will.
And you're thinking, hey, we could be discharged at any
moment here. And a granted, they weren't
letting you do that, right? But you're talking about how
she's fully lucid, fully there. Talk to us a little bit about
that conversation and how that went.
(10:37):
Yeah, well, you know, we both are trying to put our money
where her mouth is when it comesto our faith, you know, and
trust the Lord that he knows what he's doing.
It's hard in those moments because, you know, all those
questions come to mind. You know, God, why are you
letting this happen? You know, all that kind of
stuff. And you know, we, we knew from
(10:57):
our own experience, the power ofprayer.
We're, we're hoping that something different is going to
happen. And at the same time, we're
talking about what ifs, you know, what if they can't figure
this out? What if you have to have a
pacemaker installed, you know, all that sort of stuff?
I mean, that was the, the worst case prognosis.
They were saying she would have to have a permanent pacemaker,
(11:18):
which which in his words is veryunfortunate at 23 years old, you
know, So, you know, we're, we'rejust trying to roll with it
that, you know, pacemakers better than dead, you know, So
we, we were just kind of resigned that that's probably
the way it was going to go. Yeah, and how many days in was
(11:38):
this? Oh gosh, she was, she was acting
normal within the first day. I mean, once they got that
temporary pacemaker in. And so it was probably from day
one through day 4 before that fever kicked in.
And then she was, she was just feeling so poorly.
There wasn't much conversation going on then cuz she was
sleeping a lot. She's trying to stay warm, you
(12:01):
know, all that stuff. Yeah, wow.
So you guys make the decision, yeah, the pacemaker gets
removed. And then how long does it take
for that feeling of elation to begin to set in as the
realization of everything is OK also begins to set in?
(12:22):
Yeah, man, I think, I think the first 30 seconds were the most
horrific just because you, you see the thing come out and she
and I, you know, just just eyes locked with each other and, and
you know that, that silent language you have with your
spouse, you know, with your eyesand stuff.
And she's looking at me like, well, nothing's happening.
(12:46):
You know, that that kind of a look.
And it, it was like that too good to be true thing.
You're waiting, you know, well, maybe it takes a minute, Maybe
your heart stays on autopilot for a bit and then drops in.
And it was within probably 2-3 minutes.
The, the doc was saying this is,this is unusual.
You know, she should have already gone semi unconscious by
(13:08):
now if it was going to happen. And then 5 minutes, 10 minutes,
you start hoping and within 15 we're we're just confident God
has done something amazing here.Wow, very cool.
Well, you just mentioned some timing stuff there.
The doctor says, you know, typically within two or three
(13:29):
minutes, somebody semi consciousat that point.
So actually take us back, let's kind of rewind to the beginning
because you had described a fairbit of elapsed time.
So we don't know when this all started, right?
And you get home. So some period of time's elapsed
up until you get home. But even if it didn't, even if
(13:52):
it happens the split second you get home, it's about 15 minutes
or so. You were talking as you're
making the egg and that type of thing.
And then another 10:00-ish untilthe ambulance arrives.
So we're talking kind of at a minimum 25 ish minutes.
We don't know how much longer than that.
So here here kind of comes the question what kind of physical
(14:16):
or brain impact did any of that low heart rate and semi
conscious and and completely notnormal state have on your wife?
Yeah, those were concerns for mebecause, you know, I didn't know
anything about any of this. And, you know, the doctor said
(14:36):
that 20 beats a minute roughly is what her heart was beating
at. And that's barely enough to keep
you alive, is what he said. And so I'm immediately thinking
lack of blood flow to the brain and, and it may be the heart
being damaged and all that kind of stuff.
And we found out after the wholething was done, part of, part of
what they were amazed about was that once her heart's beating
(15:00):
normally and everything, they're, they're doing
ultrasounds, they're doing the EKG, they're doing all that
stuff to kind of assess what's happened to her heart.
And they were, they were saying normally you would see some kind
of damage to the heart. You would see muscles that have
torn from from trying too hard or you would see some sort of a
a death to some of the cells in the heart.
(15:22):
And her heart looked like, you know, brand new heart.
It was just nothing about it that that indicated she had ever
had a complete heart plot. And you know, you Fast forward
some from there. Every time we had a baby from
then on, they would hear her story and want to get her
checked out and would want it a cardiologist in the room when
she delivers. So every one of the kids was
(15:43):
scheduled and every single one of those cardiologists would see
her, her then current EKG and ultrasound and say you don't
have any damage to your heart. How did you have a complete
heart block? I mean, same thing, just this,
this repeated over the next 8 or10 years, reminder of what had
happened and that there was absolutely no harm to her at
(16:05):
all. And brain wise, I mean, she's
smarter today than she was then.So, you know, I don't, I don't
see any evidence of brain problems.
Yeah, wow. Well, we asked this question of
every guest, and that is was it coincidence or God that this
worked out the way it did? Yeah, well, I'm definitely
(16:28):
convinced it was God. I've been a follower of Jesus
Christ since I was five years old.
My wife, we, we, we joke, we, wetrusted in Christ the same time,
the same day, the same hour. We don't know that, but it was
definitely the same year. She was four years old.
I was five years old. And, you know, we both have have
followed the Lord for years. We prayed, we've seen answers to
(16:49):
prayer. We've seen even since this event
that I'm describing for you, lots of things happen over the
years that have been answered Prayers and and yeah, I'm just
convinced, you know, God, God did this.
Yeah, right on. Well, the follow on question
that we ask every guest is what's been the impact or how
has your life changed as a result of seeing this as God in
(17:14):
action? Yeah, well, we've had the
privilege of sharing this story with so many people who have
been in similar crazy circumstances just to give hope
that God does hear, he does answer prayer.
You know, you always have to kind of give the caveat.
But he's God, you know, he gets to decide when and where and,
and can't guarantee anything. But we do know we have a God who
(17:36):
listens and he answers. We also have, I guess through
our, through our adult lives, had opportunities to trust God
in similar circumstances, whether it's a heart condition
or a financial crisis or something, where the faith that
we learned in this time gets tested again and we get to go
(17:58):
back in the annals of memory and, and remind ourselves, he
was faithful then, he'll be faithful now.
So it's been a stepping stone. It's been a a brick in the path,
so to speak, that's helped us build our faith over the years
in and even sharing the story helps others build their faith.
Yeah, a stepping stone. Yeah.
And you know, I just thought of this too.
(18:19):
I think another, another benefit.
We have four more kids now, you know, which would not have
happened if if we'd lost her then.
So kids, grandkids, all kinds ofblessing that have come because
of the answer to prayer. Yeah.
Praise God. Praise God, Kerry.
Well, super awesome of you to share the story.
(18:40):
Lots of really unique and cool details in there in terms of no
impact to your wife and and yet all of it stemming from an
incredibly abnormal scenario to happen for someone who's healthy
and 23 years old. So really quite miraculous.
Thanks a bunch from coming on when you.
Look. Oh yeah.
(19:00):
Great to have you. Absolutely.
Can I give you a little cherry on the top?
Go right ahead. This was crazy, man.
After she was feeling normal. The the thing had been taken out
all that they're trying to figure out what happened.
The lady from the finance officecomes up and she's standing in
the room. They're talking to us.
And you know, this was what 1980, gosh, 1993 is when this
(19:23):
happened. So she comes up and she says, I
came up to talk to you about the, the financial piece of
this. You know, how, how are you
planning to take care of this? And we, I just started a new
job. We had no insurance and you
know, we kind of look at each other and I said, well, how much
is it? And she said, well, at this
point it's, it's $29,000, which you know, that's 1990 three
(19:45):
$29,000. Now it would be a couple of
100,000 probably. And we just kind of laughed
looking at each other. And I, I just told her, I'll
come down and talk to you about it later.
And so I did and telling our situation, no insurance, all
this stuff. And she, she says, well, there's
this program, it hasn't existed very long.
It's called the Colorado Resident Discount Program.
(20:05):
And if you have certain income criteria, you might qualify.
So I fill out all this application and I'm telling you,
Mick, we had something like $278in our bank account.
That was it. And this Colorado Resident
Discount program paid for all but $270 of the bill.
(20:29):
Is that just a nice little cherry on the top?
Oh, Carrie, that's so good. It was amazing.
It was really cool. Go God.
Yeah, I still have the the hospital bill with a 0 net
balance, you know, circled and my wife.
Back then there was a commercialfor MetLife insurance on TV that
said get met, it pays and my wife writes on it.
(20:50):
Get God, he pays. Yeah.
Wow. Oh, that's so good.
The 278 versus the 270. Oh man.
Yeah, so we went and bought burritos or something.
I don't remember what we did. Like any good Coloradan would
do, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(21:13):
Wow. Well, Carrie, I mean, it sounds
like this one keeps getting better.
Any other cherries to add on to the on to that?
One. Not for this particular one, no.
Yeah, well, thanks a bunch man for being on, especially for the
laughter at the end of what was already an amazing story, but
just to to hear God's provision in two different ways over all
(21:36):
of this. You know, absolutely.
Really wonderful. Well, thanks a bunch for
sharing. We wish you the best and we'll
chat soon all. Right, Mick, Thanks.
Well, there you have it. Was it coincidence or God?
You decide for yourself, but I believe you just heard a story
for his glory. When You Look is powered by the
(21:58):
stories guest share. So if you have a story to tell,
let us know by going to whenyoulook.com and click on Be
a Guest. For an even richer experience,
watch When you Look on YouTube. We're at when you Look show all
one word, no spaces on all social media platforms,
including YouTube. So please follow the podcast
(22:19):
here in your podcast app. Leave us a review as we value
your feedback and most importantly, share when you look
with someone who'll be impacted by the stories.
Thanks so much for listening andGod bless.
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