No miracle.
So you can imagine that I read this message with somewhat close attention. It lifted my spirit (the way tales of miracles always do, especially miracles happening to someone you know or you have met...because so far, all the miracles I read are about other people, people I don't know or haven't met).
So here goes. This is the story of Jude Antoine's (google him on YouTube if you don't know who he is) heart attack this Christmas and what happened after. Told by his daughter Alicia Antoine.
When my dad Jude Antoine got home from Indonesia on December 15th, 2019, he had a really bad cough. He was weak and was always wanting to sleep. Because of his previous experience with "broncho-pneumonia", we assumed that these symptoms of tiredness and cough were related to his weak lungs.
Despite feeling this way, on December 22nd (Sunday), he decided to go on to give a talk at a family Christmas gathering in Kajang. We all travelled to Kajang as a family. As he was preaching, we noticed that he was sweating profusely. When we asked if he was okay, he said that he was tired and that he just needs to rest.
After the session around 4pm, we drove home. During the drive he complained of uneasiness in the chest but attributed it to exertion during the preaching. Upon reaching home, he took a short nap, but woke up still sweaty and still with the discomfort in his chest area. Not knowing what else to do, we sat and prayed, trusting that he would feel better. Two hours went by and he still was the same. Hoping that a meal would make him feel better all four of us took the car and drove to a McDonald's drive-thru to get him some porridge.
As we were waiting in the drive-thru, my sister (Lavinia) noticed that Papa kept massaging his left arm. She asked him why and he said that it was because his t-shirt was uncomfortable. When we got home after getting the food, Lavinia was convinced hat these were all symptoms of a heart attack. Immediately we three insisted that we go to the hospital to check it out. Hearing this, Papa started to freak out (he hates hospitals) and tried to convince us to go the day after. Ignoring him we got into the car and dragged him with us. This was around 10pm on Sunday night.
We managed to get to General Hospital Kuala Lumpur emergency department in 5 minutes (GOD IS SO GOOD!). The male nurse in the Emergency checked him and decided to do an ECG to check the activity of his heart. Looking at the results, the nurse ran out of the room without saying anything. Papa got dressed and was slowly walking out of the room. As he walked out, the same nurse came back running with a hospital stretcher. He told Papa that he is having a heart attack as we speak and that he needed to lay down.
As they pushed him to the emergency, a doctor passed by and asked what was going on. The nurse gave him the ECG results. The doctor looking at the ECG strip responded by saying "oh wow...oh wow...oh wow...oh wow" four times. I was so confused, so I asked the doctor what was happening. He looked at me and said that Papa is having a heart attack and that the doctor in Emergency would tell us more about the situation.
And so, we got to the Emergency. Papa had three doctors around him discussing what was the best way to treat him. Finally, the doctors decided to send him to Institute Jantung Negara (IJN) (a cardiology specialist centre about 10 minutes away) because they did not have a cardiologist at that time of the night. Knowing this, my sister and I decided to go to IJN first, while Mummy waited with Papa for the ambulance to get ready.
As we were reaching our car in the hospital carpark, I received a frantic call from Mummy. She was crying hysterically and said: "Alicia! Come back now! Papa needs both of you now!" Filled with fear, both of us ran back to the Emergency -- praying out loud. When we got there, we saw Mummy on the floor crying. I asked her what happened and she said that Papa's heart stopped beating.
I couldn't believe it. So I rushed into the room where we left Papa. As I opened the door of the room, I saw many doctors and nurses surrounding Papa and on top of him on the bed -- trying to resuscitate Papa. One nurse shouted at me, saying, "Please go out NOW, your father needs us right now," and pushed me out of the room.
I was so scared I didn't now what to do. I started crying. That's when I saw this Malay lady dressed in a cleaner's uniform, sweeping the floor outside the room Papa was in. She looked at me and said, "DOA", which is "pray" in Malay. At that moment, it felt like I saw Jesus. It felt like I heard Him say, "Lean on Me, Alicia."
Knowing how stressed I was, Lavinia pushed the Bible into my hand to distract me from what was happening. Whilst still crying and trembling, I opened the Bible. The first thing I saw was Psalm 42:11: "Why are you cast down, O my soul...Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my help and my God."
This verse pierced my heart. It was an assurance from God that I will again praise God as long as I put my hope in Him. I prayed out loud, commanding Papa's heart to beat again, declaring the name of Jesus LOUDLY in that entire emergency ward. It felt like I was praying for hours.
And then, the same cleaner lady (who seemed to be sweeping the same spot on the floor for 30 minutes) comes back to me and says that Papa is okay. I was wondering how she would know. She never went inside the room. I was so confused because it didn't make sense.
At this point, the doctors came out of Papa's room and said that Papa's heart is beating again. I walked into the room to look at Papa and he was wide awake, looked completely normal but confused. He said hi to me, held my hand and asked me why I was crying. It was as if nothing had happened to him. He had no clue what had just happened -- his heart had stopped for 2-3 minutes. The doctors had done CPR but it failed and ultimately they used a defibrillator to kickstart his heart. (Interesting note: we never saw the cleaner lady again, after Papa became conscious).
After a few minutes (around 1am on December 23rd), the IJN ambulance was ready to take him to the other hospital where they were ready to proceed with an angioplasty procedure immediately. The nurse at the IJN reception said the procedure should take about 30 minutes; anything longer would mean there were complications.
At the IJN waiting lounge, we were surrounded with so much love and support. We had family with us there physically and family all over the world praying and declaring healing over Papa's life. We knelt, cried and prayed aloud in the lounge. The presence of God was so strong in that room, even the security guard was watching. It took 1 1/2 hours and the doctors managed to put in a stent. There was one major block. Doctors say it was a miracle he survived that massive heart attack in the Emergency considering the block. If Papa had been anywhere else when the massive heart attack hit, he would not have made it. The hand of God was all over us that entire day.
Even when death was in front of us and every part of me told me to give up, God told me to put all my hope in Him. I saw His mighty Hand as I trusted Him and put all my hope in Him. He is Yahweh Yireh, our Provider. If God is for us, not even a heart that stopped beating can be against us.
All glory to God!
Alicia Anne Antoine
Date: 6th January 2020.
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