What He Saw During Emergency Surgery Changed His Life!

The day had started normally for Stevie Suglia. After taking his dog for a walk, he began putting away some groceries… that’s when the pain started. Stevie recalls, “I took a few steps towards the room, and I got dizzy and I felt something in my chest. All of a sudden I just plopped on the couch, and I was unable to move.” His phone was in another room so Stevie couldn’t call 9-1-1, or his wife Peggy who was out. He says, “Months prior I had a clean bill of health. Um, never had any heart issues. First, I thought it was gonna be a heart attack 'cause there was a pain level there, but I didn't know. I was scared.  I said, ‘Jesus, if this is my time to go home, at least have my wife here with me’.” 

When Peggy arrived home a few minutes later, she found Stevie on the couch in tremendous pain. She says, “I was very concerned because my first thought was a stroke. So, I decided I was gonna take his blood pressure and I took it and it was low.” Peggy called 9-1-1 and the couple prayed while they waited for help. Peggy recalls, “I was saying, ‘Lord, what's going on? I pray that this is nothing serious and you'll be taking care of it. You’re the healer, the great physician’.”

By the time paramedics arrived Stevie couldn’t talk. They rushed him to Martin South Hospital just a few minutes away. Stevie says, “They were asking me all kinds of questions. I wasn't able to verbalize anything. I mean, I knew the responses, but I wasn't able to speak 'em out.”  Peggy and their daughter Julia, who had just gotten home, followed the ambulance to the hospital. At the ER doctors suspected a stroke. They started Stevie on an IV and began running tests. Stevie recalls, “It was just unreal. Why is this happening to me? What is going on? And it was of course, for concern.”

Over the next few hours Stevie began feeling better so Peggy and Julia went home to rest. That afternoon the hospital called. Stevie was being rushed to Martin North Hospital. It wasn’t a stroke… it was much more critical. Peggy recalls, “When they said that he's gonna have to have an operation. I didn't wanna lose him.  I cried out to the Lord and I said, ‘you know, Lord, please don't take him’.” Stevie says, “And I'm saying, ‘oh no, now what, what happened to me?’ You know, um, it was scary.” Doctors explained that Stevie had an Acute ‘Type A’ Aortic Dissection. Without emergency surgery to repair the aorta, there was an 80% chance he would die. Stevie recalls, “And that's all my daughter and wife outta hear. She cried over me and I just lost it, seeing her like that. And I said, ‘baby, it'll be okay. It'll be okay. Don't worry about it’. And my wife's behind me crying, trying to reach family members.” Peggy recalls, “I was saying, ‘Lord, I don't know what's going on, but I know you have this’, but I'm still a little nervous.” Stevie was scared as he faced major heart surgery. He recalls, “I was trembling. There was a nurse that came by. She had a big glow on her face, a bright glow, I should say brighter than anything I've ever seen. She put a one hand on my heart, one hand on my head and she prayed and she said, ‘Jesus has this’. And that's when I felt a peaceful feeling around me.”

During the 8-hour procedure, friends and family gathered to pray for Stevie. Afterwards, he was put into a medically induced coma while he recovered. All his family could do was wait and pray. Peggy remembers thinking, “Was it successful? Was it not? They said, well, the first 24 hours is touch and go. So, I, you know, I was a little concerned about that. I felt the prayers. I felt that it helped with the peace and then to just keep trusting the Lord.” Five days later Stevie woke up… with no complications. Peggy recalls, “When we got in there, he was sitting up in a chair and I went, what? I was like, oh, wow. Speaking of miracles.”  Through it all Stevie says he felt peace… even, while being operated on. He recalls, “I saw Jesus, and I saw He guided the surgeon's hand with the straight cut. And He whispered to me, ‘everything's gonna be okay’. And He was with the surgeon throughout most of the surgery. When the surgery was over, put His hand to my heart. He says, you are healed. You are healed. And then He just left as quick as He came. He just left the vision of Jesus made me feel at peace.”

Two weeks after waking up he was able to go home, where he made a quick recovery. Peggy says, “I was glad to get him home, so I could take care of him.”  Today, Stevie is back to doing chores around the house and enjoying his family. He and Peggy believe that it was only through prayers and God’s mercy that Stevie survived his ordeal. Peggy says,  “Jesus is real and He's there for us. And all we have to do is just keep, you know, just keep leaning and looking to Him. And that's what, you know, I was doing. Give your life to Him. It's all that matters, you know? And He'll be with you.” Stevie says, “Never lose faith. Always have faith. Jesus is real. He loves you. No matter what's happened in your life, He is there for you. He will take care of you as He did with me.”