Doctors Floored When Woman's Heart Makes Miraculous Recovery Moments Before Transplant Surgery
Melissa Justice and her husband, Ray, are keenly aware of just how fragile life can be, and just how capable God is of still doing miracles today.
Prior to 2009, Melissa was initially experiencing a healthy life, short of the frustration of not being able to lose weight. She had the support of her husband as an exercise buddy, and even though they did the same exercise and ate the same foods, she just wasn’t losing the weight.
Melissa spoke with her doctor about her frustration, and was told by her doctor that she must be mistaken, according to DCM Foundation.
“You’re eating more than you think you are,” the doctor told her.
Shortly after that, she and Ray decided to go on a cruise. Though things started out pleasantly enough, she began experiencing pains in her chest when they were coming back.
Since Melissa was only 31 at the time, she said she didn’t think too much about it. But she continued to experience the pain even once they returned home from the cruise, so she scheduled herself for a visit to the doctor, according to CBN.
Three EKGs all came back with normal results. Then the doctor performed an ultrasound. Melissa was stunned by what it showed.
Her heart was only functioning at 15 percent of capacity, according to WBNS.
Melissa was diagnosed with Chronic Systolic Heart Failure.
“It was like being told, ‘You planned this whole future with your husband, this beautiful family that you had in your mind and this beautiful career that you were working on so hard,'” Melissa said, then added, “It was like having everything ripped out from underneath you.”
“That initial shock of ‘something’s wrong’ or ‘something’s different.’ That knowledge that life is never going to be the same, or potentially never going to be the same again is jarring,” Ray said.
Melissa and Ray began to pray together in agreement that God would either heal her, or give them the strength and courage to handle whatever other outcome He had in mind.
A heart assist pump was implanted in Melissa, and she was placed on a heart transplant list. She would remain at the top of the list for only 30 days.
“Just tried to take it one day at a time and just tried to trust that God would be with us,” Melissa said. “I did not feel better. I remember actually thinking, ‘I cannot believe the human body can take this much pain.’ Kept thinking, ‘Maybe tomorrow I’ll feel better,’ but months after the surgery I still was feeling very rough.”
“What’s the future going to hold,” Ray questioned. “What’s it going to look like? Will my wife still even be here in six months; will I need to plan a funeral?”
On her last day to remain at the top of the list, a suitable heart became available.
She was taken into the surgery area, and her anesthesiologist, Dr. Perez, decided to do one last test.
“I put the probe in,” Dr. Perez said, “and what I see is a heart that is almost, but not quite, completely normal in its squeeze. I kept looking at this heart that was banging away virtually normally, and she’s not on any supportive drugs at all. The surgeon looked at that heart, saw what I saw and said, ‘I can’t give her a heart that works better than this.'”
“It was a very unusual situation. It was almost something you would see on a TV drama,” Dr. Ayesha Hasan said.
The hospital gave the heart to another patient and sent Melissa home.
She made a point of taking long walks, and one year later, her heart became even more healthy and doctors were able to remove the heart pump.
Melissa became involved with Lower Lights Christian Health Center in Columbus, Ohio.
She was nominated for a Jefferson Award for her volunteerism, and has been credited with making significant improvements to the organization’s prescription application process for free and reduced cost medicines.
“Essentially, she completely revamped our system,” Lower Lights volunteer coordinator Josh Huff told The Columbus Dispatch.
The organization was created to help economically challenged patients who are either uninsured or under-insured with being able to obtain their prescription medications.
Melissa has been able to help over 1000 people receive free medication through drug manufacturers.
“Seeing Melissa today, over 10 years later, still with her own heart, living a normal life – it’s just a privilege to have been a part of it,” Dr. Perez said.
“We’ve seen the Lord work, right? We know miracles happen, right,” Ray said. “We read about them in the Bible. But to see one, to see something so tangible happen was amazing.”
“I have a beautiful life,” Melissa said, “a very full life, and I have life, which is the best part.”
Melissa has written a book about her experience entitled, Though My Heart and Flesh May Fail.
