On Thursday morning August 14, 2014 our family woke up to the news that Angie, my nephew Brian's wife, was in ICU at Baptist Integris Hospital in Oklahoma City. She was literally on death's door. The doctors just really didn't think she had a chance to make it. There were so many questions; How did she contract Bacterial Spinal Meningitis? She's young, healthy and active. She works as a nutritionist at the very hospital she's now fighting for her life in.
I felt very helpless.....What could I do to help.......I gave great thought before I turned to Social Media...... but I decided to get on FB and ask all my friends to please pray for this dear, sweet person. I asked for prayers for the doctors to find the right medicine to treat Angie. I knew that all things are possible with God. I knew he hears all prayers. Not long after I posted for prayers, people started commenting, promising to pray for Angie.
Then I got a private message from another dear, sweet person....Alison Francis Whitney. She ask me to read an article she had sent to me. She then ask if it would be ok for her to go talk to Angie's husband about a DNA test that her company could run which in turn could help identify the bacteria that had caused this infection in Angie. Alison dropped what she was doing, contacted her partner and they were off to the hospital in OKC. I won't go in to details but Alison talked to Angie's family & her doctors. She called her boss and he drove Angie's samples to the lab in Lubbock, Texas.
Friday morning within 20 minutes of each other the news came in from the tests in Lubbock & the tests that the ER doctor at the Yukon Ingetris Hospital had run. That doctor was really on top of things by recognizing Angie's Symptoms as Spinal Meningitis and transferring her to the main hospital in OKC. The doctors then knew that the bacteria was Strep A Bacterial Meningitis. It is my understanding that only 6 other people have been diagnosed with this exact illness, none of which survived. The doctors were treating her with a broad spectrum antibiotic, and they found out that this particular drug had not been effective on the other 6 cases. They needed a more specific medication. They could now do this, because they knew what they were fighting. They changed the medications and Angie began to improve ever so slowly at first.
A week later and Angie is still with us. She is much improved. The fight is far from over and we know things can change but we choose to count on all the prayers and God to bring her through this. There will probably be some neurological damage but we are praying that Angie can keep baffling the doctors and beat all the odds.
There are many people who have had a hand in Angie being able to keep fighting this battle..... The ER doctor at Yukon Integris Hospital, the great doctors, at least 7 of them, at the OKC Baptist Integris Hospital, the wonderful nurses and staff who have taken such excellent care of her and of course all the friends and family who have helped by calling, texting, coming by and most of all for the prayers. So many people have prayed for Angie and we know God has heard and continues to hear those prayers.
We thank God that he has placed Angie in the right place at the right time so she can win this battle...Thank You God!!!!!
I myself can't thank Alison Whitney and the people she works with and for enough. They made a special trip to Lubbock, stayed late to keep the lab open and went in on the weekend to read more tests. They didn't ask anything in return. They just wanted to help save Angie's life. How can we ever repay that ..... Alison, I love you to the moon and back. You have definitely reaffirmed my faith in humanity... People do care.
Thanks again to all of you who have been praying......Keep Praying for Angie.....Prayer works and you never know how it's going to be answered.
