A Low Chance of Survival, But by Faith, She Lived!

“God hit me right then in that moment and said, wait a minute, Tom, have you noticed what's happening these last 24, 36 hours? He said, I'm hitting the accelerator man. And you want to hit the brakes?”

April 25th, 2024, Tom Martin was indecisive on which high-risk treatment should be administered to his 58-year-old wife Dee who had suffered a massive brain bleed two days earlier. 

A neurosurgeon at Lutheran Hospital in Ft. Wayne, Indiana delivered the grim prognosis. 

“He said, this is the most severe, difficult, and tricky to treat condition I've ever seen. And he said, because of that, I have to tell you that Dee has less than a 20% chance of survival,” said Tom.

However, what the physician said next gave Tom hope. 

“He said, we're going to go after this. I loved that. Said, we're going to go after this.” 

Tom said, “And so when he said that the thing that came to my mind was, alright, God make this 20%, a 100%.” 

Immediately, an angiogram was performed to measure the bleeding in Dee’s brain and a head catheter inserted to relieve pressure.  

Meanwhile, Tom called family and friends to pray, giving specifics to what needed to happen for Dee to survive. John Myers, his brother-in-law in Lynchburg, Virginia was one of them. 

“First response is to pray; I woke Mary, and we began to pray.”

Mary said, “We’re talking her life, like she may not survive. and the thought of that at 58 was really kind of shattering, scary for me.”

Hours later, after more tests were performed the neurosurgeon met with Tom again to share the findings. There were three treatment options, all high-risk.

Tom said, “He said, whatever we do, in the next two to three weeks of this will not change that less than 20% chance of survival at all.” 

“Absolutely. I'm praying. God’s will be done. First and foremost, the prayer that to this day I pray, is God go before us.”

Tom chose the option of placing a stent into Dee’s brain. However, certain criteria had to be met – intercranial pressure and bleeding had to stabilize.

“They had five scans that had continued to increase. Okay, in terms of the bleed.  And 

Dr. Khatri said we have to have at least two scans that level off,” said Tom. 

“I was receiving texts from Tom continuously,” said John Myers. “One of the first friends I reached out to was a guy in town who leads a men’s prayer meeting and I knew he would have 50 to 60 men there praying.”

Two days later. . .

Tom said, “We got those two data points on Thursday.”   

“Bottom line is, you know, its decision time, Tom. okay? And it's yours to make.” 
Only, he began to doubt himself.  

“In that moment that really, really hit me hard, really hit me hard is that, okay, we said we were going to do option two. and I thought, well, maybe we go with option three, let's go with three,” said Tom. “Let's wait.”

Tom said, “I went, no, I can't do that to God. I can't hit the brakes. My faith wanted to leave me so quickly there. I said, I can't do it. I can't do it. He's brought us this far. He'll take us the rest away.”

Dee survived the five-and-a-half-hour surgery where two stents were inserted.  Now, they had to wait. 

“We have no guarantee of any outcomes. We don't know cognitively what Dee is going to be like. If at anything, you know, at during, or following this, what permanent disabilities, assuming she survives it,” said Tom.

And then, three-and-a-half weeks later, while Dee was being evaluated by a nurse. . .
Tom said, “She pointed at me, and she said, hey, do you know who that guy is? And Dee nodded her head.” 

“I must have asked Tom questions cause I didn't know how long I had been there,” said 
Dee. “And I remember asking him, you know, how long have I been here? Where am I at? And he just started answering those questions. I couldn't believe when he told me that I had been in the hospital four weeks. I was just, that was unbelievable to me that, you know, the last thing I remember is going to bed with a headache.”

A week later, Dee was released from the hospital and continued in outpatient rehab for 6 more weeks.

“We were surprised when they were discharging her, taking her off of intensive care and putting her on a regular floor,” said Mary Myers. “And then they’re moving her out of the hospital to rehab, and even after that, it was 10 days and we’re sending her home, and I was like wow!”

Today, she has no limitations. 

Dee said, “People will tell me, my Bible study group, there were 40 men on their knees praying for Dee. It's just amazing. I’m like, wow, all these people all over the country, people, I don't know, praying for me.”

“Boy, when you’re pleading for somebody’s life, it’s amazing and God just increased our faith,” said John Myers. “And the whole process and confirmed with us, the importance of prayer.” 

Tom said, “The prayers that were answered so specifically on a consistent basis, it just, it amazed all of us.” 

“God's word is true. It was real. And He was there.”