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    Two Lives One Heart
    Two Lives One Heart
    Two Lives One Heart
    Ebook104 pages1 hour

    Two Lives One Heart

    By Renee Thrower-Smith

    ()

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    About this ebook

    This book tells the story of the miraculous recovery of a 12-year-old girl who survived a sudden collapse on a basketball court and her journey back to life.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRenee Thrower-Smith
    Release dateJun 18, 2019
    ISBN9780463710845
    Two Lives One Heart

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      Book preview

      Two Lives One Heart - Renee Thrower-Smith

      Two Lives

      One Heart

      Renee Thrower-Smith

      Copyright 2019 by Renee Thrower-Smith

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of the author.

      Edited and Designed by: Denice D. Richards for Work In Progress Creations

      wipcreations.com

      workinprogresscreations@gmail.com

      Front cover artwork designed by: Dantel J. Williamson

      dantel.williamson2@gmail.com

      Back cover artwork designed by: Shay

      First Edition

      Smashwords Edition

      Licensing Notes

      This e-book is licensed for your personal use and enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or if it was not purchased for your use only, please visit Smashwords.com and purchase a copy for yourself. Thank you for respecting this author’s work.

      E-Book by e-book-design.com.

      Acknowledgments

      First, I would like to acknowledge and thank my family for walking this journey with us—from the beginning to the end. It has been so very, very humbling. I honor all of our family members that prayed, cried, moaned, and shouted with us during this unexpected life event.

      I give honor to all of the families who have lost the loved ones who gave their lives so that someone else may live.

      Thank you, Kate. I cannot say enough to your family to express how grateful my family is for your sacrifice. May grace and mercy follow all of you for the rest of your lives.

      Most of all, I want to give special acknowledgements to all of the medical staff that participated in the healing and recovery of my daughter.

      I wrote this book to encourage families that are starting a heart journey, in the midst of the journey, or have already overcome the journey to never give up hope—or lose faith.

      Please note: some names have been altered to protect the individual’s privacy.

      Life changing, suddenly the storms of life hit like lightning.

      Heart shattering pains of doubt, despair, fear, joy, confusion, and hope—all in the showers of tears.

      A heart is broken, only to be miraculously redeemed and restored!

      This story shares some of the journey through which we travelled.

      Chapter One

      Journey of The Heart

      The day was January 25, 2012. It was a very busy day: my daughters had school, while my husband and I worked. With the year being relatively new, we all had short- and long-term goals we were striving for, and all of us were looking forward to a prosperous and challenging year.

      The school day was over but our daughter, Shay, was playing in her middle school’s basketball game. It was a very exciting game to watch (Shay’s team was leading by one-point) with both teams battling for the win. There were only seconds left in the game when Shay was called off the floor by the coach to take a seat on the sidelines.

      She sat down and after a few moments, she complained to her coach that she was having some difficulty breathing. The coach stood her up and attempted to assist her with her breathing, but within seconds she collapsed on the gym floor, confused and struggling to breathe!

      We were watching the game on the other side of the gym and a student dashed across the floor to inform us something was gravely wrong with our child. We hurried to where Shay collapsed and, to our dismay, she was laying on the gym floor, laboring to breathe, while going in and out of awareness.

      While someone called the paramedics, all we could do was stand there, shocked that our seemingly healthy child was on the ground, struggling to breathe and remain conscious.

      While waiting for help to arrive, Lee, Shay’s dad, gave her some rescue breathes. She remained conscious but we still had no idea what was going with our daughter.

      You could hear a pin drop as the gym went completely silent. Sitting in the bleachers were shocked parents and children who could do nothing more than watch while Shay fought to breathe. We quickly realized our daughter, at this very moment, was in a serious life and death situation.

      But how? Why?

      Before collapsing on the gym floor, Shay had been a seemingly healthy child, playing in all kinds of sports and participating in other athletic activities, so it was difficult to wrap our brain around why this was happening to our child.

      It seemed as if time stood still when the paramedics entered the gym and checked Shay’s vitals as she continued to squirm frantically on the gym floor. She was put on a gurney and rapidly wheeled out into the awaiting ambulance.

      As she was being loaded into the back, we just watched, frightened and unsure about the next steps Shay was about to experience.

      We rushed to our vehicles and followed the ambulance to Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children in Denver, shaken and terrified by the entire situation.

      We met the ambulance at the hospital and immediately rushed to the emergency room where lab tests were performed to determine why Shay collapsed. When the emergency room doctor received the results from the blood draw, it showed that Shay’s troponin levels— or enzymes found in the heart’s muscles—were completely off the chart of normal!

      The doctors further explained that our precious 12-year-old Shay experienced a heart attack. How, we wondered, could a 12-year-old be stricken with a sudden heart attack without having any prior history of heart problems?

      Shay was taken to the pediatric cardiac intensive care unit (PCICU), where she was hooked up to several monitors, and surrounded by several machines which were responsible for keeping track of her body’s functions. After being admitted to the PCICU, she was stable for a short time; it seemed as if she was okay, and we were able to breathe some sigh of relief.

      We did not know what was about to occur with our daughter, and we certainly were not prepared for anything else to happen at this time. We felt so helpless, powerless, desperate—and afraid!

      We wanted to do something, anything to save our child’s life. The only thing we could do was pray, look at her, and reflect on the fact that she was just playing basketball a few hours prior to going into the PCICU. We felt this had to be a bad dream—an unreal nightmare—and we were going to wake up from an experience at any moment that didn’t seem real. In our minds, it just couldn’t be real!

      After some time passed, we were able to visit Shay in her hospital room, while we met with the cardiothoracic doctors in the family room to keep us informed regarding her condition. While consulting with the doctors and without warning, Shay’s blood pressure suddenly began to plummet. Oh no, please Lord, we cried out to God in anguish. Let us keep her! Please!

      The doctors assessed Shay’s vitals and quickly decided she needed to be put on life support—immediately! We couldn’t believe what we just heard. Life support? What? No!

      The urgency was necessary; the doctors explained that Shay was too sick to transport to the operating room. The situation was so serious that the staff quickly put on their blue operating room garments, gloves, and masks

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