AMAZING STORY
Waiting on a Miracle
By Audra Smith Haney
The 700 Club
CBN.com -“We had been praying for this miracle for over 15 years and we finally got it,” Liz Hess said.
When Liz Hess’ youngest son Haden was 4 years old, the usually healthy and active child started getting sick on a regular basis.
“All the sudden he got pneumonia and he was hospitalized. It was only a few months after that he got pneumonia again,” Liz said.
After seeing several doctors, Haden was sent to John Hopkins for some advanced testing. Specialists confirmed that Haden had Cystic Fibrosis.
“The physician came to me and said, you need to accept this because if you don’t then you are prolonging him being healthy,” Liz said.
When Haden was diagnosed with the incurable lung disease, the life expectancy of a child under strict treatments was in the late 20s.
“I remember I got home from John Hopkins,” Liz said, “I got right in the shower and I screamed, pounded on the walls, and yelled at God. I was very, very angry at God.”
But, after the initial shock of the news, the Hess family stood strong together. They decided to make Haden’s childhood as healthy and normal as possible. He started extensive pulmonary therapies at 5 years old.
“As far as quality of life, he would have to take medications ever day with every meal,” Liz said. “he would have to do what we call breathing treatments…but they were really pulmonary therapies.”
“Everyone pitched in,” Liz said. “Haden had an older brother and sister. They would sit with him. They would sit and play games and they would watch TV with him, while he did his therapies.”
“I was raised not to worry about it,” Haden said.
Through the years, Haden stayed optimistic, despite his diagnosis but deep down he longed to be completely free of the disease.
“It’s challenging being the kid with CF,” Haden said. “I was in 3 sports a year: football, basketball, and track. That was good but I always felt like I was being held back a bit.”
As Haden grew into a young man, the family’s hope in God grew too. They decided that their faith and church family was the only thing that would give them strength to fight Haden’s condition.
“I started going back to church,” Liz said. “I started having more faith and every time Haden would get sick I would ask for more prayer than I used to.”
“I had people praying for me, I was praying for myself,” Haden said. “I was just praying that I would live past 35, you know.”
During Haden’s junior and senior years, Liz knew that he was near college, which could be one of the most dangerous times in his life.
“When you are a young adult, you make your own choices; your parents don’t make them for you anymore,” Liz said. “He was not going to take his therapies, he was not going to take his medications and he was going to go downhill and he was going to die. Doctors told me that was what would happen.”
When Liz’s worries started to overwhelm her, she turned to the 700 Club for comfort.
“It came on every day when I was getting ready for work,” Liz said. “Everything on there just started hitting me hard. And I thought, this is terrible, how can I be so selfish in my thought pattern with God. How could I just give up on Him, which is what I was doing.”
Liz decided to believe, more than ever before, that God could work a miracle.
“I just felt so much lighter and so happy and just like, God is going to take care of him,” Liz said. “I gave him and his sickness over to Jesus.”
As Liz prayed, Haden slowly started to feel better. By the time Haden to leave for college, he had to look for a new doctor.
“I got a new doctor because I was over 18,” Haden said. “Because he hadn’t seen me, he kind of quizzed me about questions about, you know, about my CF, how I feel whenever I am doing this or how is your breathing. Are you wheezing, and all my answers were ‘no.’” He was kind of, like, ‘I want to run some tests because this just doesn’t sound right.’”
After running a battery of tests, the doctor called Haden’s family in for the results.
“We went to the doctor’s appointment finally and I made my husband come with me because I didn’t think I could handle this by myself,” Liz said. “The doctor told us, he doesn’t have CF.”
“On November 28, 2012 we got the miracle news and so immediately we started talking about, this is our Christmas miracle. This definitely was our Christmas miracle,” Liz said.
“It was perfect timing,” Haden said. “It was just a wonderful Christmas, it really was. It was a gift for the whole family.”
Today, Haden is almost finished with college and is healthier than ever. He doesn’t take any medications and is off all pulmonary treatments. The family says they will never forget the Christmas that God cured Haden’s once “incurable” disease.
“That was the best Christmas gift ever, that anybody could have ever given us,” Liz said.
“Since I was healed I have been thinking about the future, I’ve been thinking, I want to grow old, just thinking about where I want to be, where I want to live because before I wasn’t,” Haden said. “Jesus healed me. I am here because of him. My healing is just an example for people, for me, for my family. If somebody was to ask me, does God heal? Yes, God heals.”
“Jesus came to us and that is what Christmas is all about, God’s Son.” Liz said. “God gave me my son back and he gave me that miracle.”
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