We felt God's presence throughout Holly's hospitalization. One night, God sent Holly and me an angel. The night before Holly's surgery, we were waiting for her Daddy to return to her room so we could go to the chapel together to pray for Holly. As I was rocking Holly, something told me to go ahead and to the chapel and not wait on my husband, Tracy.
As I went into the chapel, holding Holly in my arms, I noticed what I thought was a young man wearing a toboggan and a heavy jacket. He was kneeling at the front pew, praying. We slipped into the back pew, and I held Holly tightly as I began praying for her. The next thing I knew, I felt someone's presence around us, and someone's hands were on my shoulders. I looked up and saw that it was the person I had noticed earlier. I realized that the person was actually an elderly woman with a Jamaican accent. She asked if she could pray with us. She put her hands on Holly and prayed for her. After she prayed she said that God would heal Holly through her doctors and that I would go and tell others. As she was walking out the door, she said, "It will work. It will happen." She had no way of knowing that we had been told by physicians that Holly would not be a candidate for this procedure and that it wasn't supposed to "happen."
Up until this point, I was an emotional wreck and did not believe that Holly would be able to have the Rastelli procedure, which was the procedure that she needed. Sitting there in the chapel, a tremendous sense of peace came over me. I knew at that moment that Holly would be able to have the Rastelli procedure, and that she would be okay. I have no doubt that God sent an angel that night to reassure me and to comfort me.
When we got back to Holly's room, I told my husband that Holly was going to be able to have the Rastelli procedure and that she would be okay. He was quite surprised to hear these words come out of my mouth, since previously I was not much of an optimist after all we had been through. I am so thankful for the angel God sent to us and also for many ways He has blessed our daughter!
