An angel sent from God

Shortly after the new year departed from the proverbial train station and began rolling down the tracks, my parents pulled out all the stops to celebrate their only daughter’s third birthday nine days into the first month on the calendar.

However, after all the fanfare subsided from the celebratory event marking the milestone for Kathleen, a state public health nurse showed up on the doorstep of the church parsonage to notify the young couple of her eligibility to visit an orthopedic clinic.

After visiting with the God-fearing young couple to share more information, the state health official thanked the husband and wife for their hospitality before making a quick exit out the door and down the snow-covered steps.

When the Bible scholar stepped out onto the side stoop to apologize for not having shoveled the stairs and sidewalk, their unexpected visitor had vanished without a trace with no footprints in the white powder.

Once Mom and Dad took the little blondie to the initial appointment at the orthopedic clinic in the county seat, it was discovered the chronic bed wetting issue of their youngest may have been caused by a much larger problem than first expected.

The three-year-old was referred to Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where further testing could be done to diagnose the root cause of the perplexing quandary.

Although the blond-haired minister and his wife knew their little girl had a spinal deformity, they didn’t realize it was classified as spina bifida until she was subjected to a battery of rigorous testing protocols.

Nearly a week later, the young couple were to the point of signing Kathleen out of the hospital and taking her home after sitting around for almost twelve hours without so much as a word from the doctor.

After performing numerous tests which put the little toddler in an agitated state, the medical professionals still came up empty-handed and were no closer to identifying the issue than when she was admitted days earlier.

However, the chief physician convinced my parents to let them run one more test — a myelogram — which did in fact confirm what the surgical staff feared all along. There was a bone spur among the tangle of nerves at the base of the spinal cord.

“We’ve scheduled emergency surgery for tomorrow morning,” assessed Doctor Donald Reigel while meeting with the anxious couple. “Since it’s a relatively minor operation, we should be able to take care of the problem and have your daughter back in her room before lunch.”

“What are the odds of paralysis,” questioned my concerned father leaning forward in the lounge chair in the waiting room. “Since this is a tedious operation involving the spinal cord, what are the chances that our daughter is going to end up in a wheelchair?”

“Well, let me put it this way,” explained the pediatric neurosurgeon after jotting down a few scribbled notes in his binder. “If we don’t perform the surgery, there is a one hundred percent chance she will be paralyzed from the waist down.”

At that point, everything became a blur to the concerned couple as things began to happen very quickly. It seemed like only a day earlier that their green-eyed blonde was having a tea party with her baby dolls; and now, she was facing a very serious spinal operation.

Once the incision was made in the preacher’s daughter’s lower back, the world-renowned orthopedic doctor discovered the problem was worse than originally thought. The bone spur had actually pierced through the spinal cord and had begun to tear at it.

Delirious, hysterical and covered with blotches, Kathleen was packed in ice when she came down from the recovery room. The surgical staff feared the worst as they frantically attempted to bring her temperature down following a delicate operation.

Although her doctors had just about given up all hope and did not expect the precious little lass to live through the night, the local pastor and his spouse decided to turn to the Great Physician and prayed for a miracle.

While Mom called the church prayer warriors, who were gathering for their weekly cottage prayer meeting, her devoted husband gently held his little girl’s hand as he softly sang her favorite Sunday school songs.

Within fifteen minutes time, the little toddler’s temperature was normal and the blotches were gone; and she was soundly sleeping with no apparent discomfort.

The well-known neurologist could not give any explanation for the sudden change of events. It was as if a miracle had taken place. The two Bible-believing Christians gave each other a wink and a smile as they sent a prayer of thanksgiving to heaven.

“You brought your daughter to us in the nick of time,” observed Doctor Reigel as he grabbed ahold of both their hands at the joyous news. “If she didn’t have the operation when she did, it would have been a matter of hours or days before she would have been paralyzed.”

“That’s interesting,” remarked the housewife briefly glancing over at her life partner before finishing her statement. ‘It was only after the state public health nurse came to our house that we knew our daughter was even eligible to go to an orthopedic clinic.”

“Hmm…,” uttered the spine specialist with a furrowed brow while scratching at the goatee on his chin. “That’s very odd; because the last time I checked, the state department of health didn’t send out nurses to do that sort of thing.”

“They typically send out a letter,” he continued as he threw his hands into the air. “But when that happens, it usually takes several months for the process to play out before the patient shows up in our office.”

That’s when the minister and his wife knew that the state public health nurse, who visited their home less than a couple weeks before, must have been an angel sent from God.