Pristine Is Who He Is – A Story of God’s Miraculous Healing Power [Video]

It was May 2016 and I had just wrapped up my junior year of college in Southern California and was soon approaching the end of a ministry tour with my university choir and orchestra in Seattle, WA. I was full of anticipation for the upcoming summer before my senior year: a season where I intended to grow closer to the Lord and finish my degree strong in Him.

On the last day of the tour, my head hurt so much that I was hospitalized. It was the most excruciating pain I had ever felt and it was confusing because it was so out of the blue. A CT scan revealed the right side of my brain had started to swell. Little did I know I was going to spend the next 80 days in the hospital. And in order to save my life it was necessary to perform an emergency procedure called a craniectomy. This surgery consisted of shaving off my beautiful curls, pulling back my scalp and removing a piece of my skull that was five inches in diameter and then stitched my scalp back. I had a huge soft spot on the right side of my head.

I remained in a coma for three weeks where during that time my doctors could not figure out the reason for the swelling on my brain. With the help of a lot of smart people, they finally figured it out!

I was diagnosed with a rare auto-immune disease called Acute Hemorrhagic Leukoencephalitis. Where my own immune system got triggered and started attacking my brain. Thankfully this is a very rare disease but it’s also really hard to diagnose. In fact, 70% of documented cases have ended in death. Their loved ones have learned the diagnosis after they’ve passed away. Due to the severity of the symptoms, those who do survive do not have full recoveries. During a portion of the time I was in a coma, I was unable to breathe on my own. And I lost all function.

After 35 days in the Neuro ICU, I was transferred to the rehabilitation unit where I spent an additional 45 days relearning literally everything. With a helmet on my head, protecting my soft spot, I had to regain my strength to do daily tasks like:
Sit + stand up, talk, walk, brush my teeth, write, tell time, and so much more. Additionally, I went through multiple types of therapy, not only strengthening my body, but also strengthening my mental and emotional abilities, too.

For those of you who know me, you know I am a pretty vibrant person. I was this energetic before I got sick and it’s safe to say I’m even more exuberant about life after this illness. But the thing is that the essence of me completely evaporated when I got sick. My social awareness disappeared and I had no ability to feel emotions. The ability to laugh, cry, be angry, communicate, and just be a good listener literally had to be rebooted.

After six months of not having the right side of my skull I had another surgery to replace what was missing. It was a joyous day when I was whole again and I didn’t need to wear a helmet everywhere I went! I spent a few months at home with my family continuing to heal and rebuild what I lost and just EIGHT months after the onset of my brain swelling, I was given the green light to return to college. That first semester back, I made the Dean’s List demonstrating academic excellence. ONLY GOD!

My family has recounted the stories of what it was like to be by my side during the traumatic time of me in a coma.
One story that really stands out is on the sixth day of my illness, my parents got a call in the middle of the night with the news that “the swelling has spread to almost her entire brain and she may not survive the night.”

My family believes prayer is not just a last resort action but instead a first instinct so they lowered my hospital bed to knee-level and they knelt before the Lord. Before petitioning for my life and pleading for a pristine healing, they began to praise God. They gave thanks to God for my 21 years on this earth, offering me as a sacrifice, having faith God was carrying us the whole time.
But it’s only God’s way, His holy nature, that not only did I survive and get fully healed from this rare auto-immune disease but God went “above and beyond anything we could have asked or imagined” (Ephesians 3:20) because that’s who He is… But His goodness is not determined by the outcome. Pristine healing or not at all, God is good the entire time. But since I still have life in my lungs, and praise on my lips, I will give God all the glory for the rest of my days.

Holy Holy Holy Is the Lord God, Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come! AMEN!!!!