The Miracle Topper

 

From the moment I was born, my life has been full of challenges that I have been forced to overcome. I was born with Bilateral hip dysplasia. The doctors confirmed that I might not ever be able to walk and would possibly have to endure multiple surgeries. Through it all, the power of prayer miraculously brought about the first of many miracles in my life. The doctors devised a treatment plan. I was fitted with a harness to keep my legs bent in the correct position to help my sockets and the acetabulum form together for my hip sockets. After months of many prayers, my parents took me back to the same doctors for another set of X-rays. Miraculously, the doctors discovered that two hip sockets had formed where there were none before. 

Looking back on my life now, I see how God continually uses everything we do and go through for our journey. There are several of those moments you ask yourself, “Why am I doing this? Why do I have to take this class, or why did this happen to me?” This is a common theme for a lot of people who ponder life’s circumstances and consider our purpose. 

There will always be critics. Throughout grade school, people bullied me for my looks and my lack of academic abilities. My peers criticized me for being tall, blonde, and happy. It took a huge toll on me emotionally and mentally. Academia was always challenging for me, and those struggles played a part in tearing up my self-esteem. It started in primary school when teachers wanted to hold me back from advancing to the next grade. In high school, some teachers proclaimed that I would not to make it through college. 

As far back as I can remember, all I ever wanted to do was to bring joy and happiness to other people’s lives. I desired to make a genuine difference. In fact, I had always wanted to be a veterinarian or a doctor, but I was advised that I was not smart enough to succeed at either one.

After high school, I chose to go into nursing and attended a one-year nursing program. After the first two weeks of school, one of the instructors stood up in the class and announced the names of people whom she believed would flunk out. To my dismay, she called out my name. And yet, I proved her wrong by studying 24/7 over the next year. I had no life except for attending classes and studying. In the end, I graduated nursing school with an A average.

Soon thereafter, I began my career as a pediatric nurse, and I transitioned to traveling nursing, working in a variety of clinics in Tennessee and Virginia. I truly loved being a nurse, but sadly, after five short years, my nursing career was cut short. 

In 2006, I noticed some odd symptoms arise. I had lost a lot of weight, but my appetite had increased. In addition, I started developing hot flashes, high heart rate, and fatigue, amongst other symptoms. After several doctors’ visits, I was diagnosed with Graves Disease and underwent a difficult thyroid surgery. 

Shortly thereafter, I experienced new health problems, which led to an agonizingly long search for a diagnosis from multiple doctors and many medical procedures. In 2008, my cardiologist performed an ablation on my heart. However, the surgery did not resolve my health issues. After going to VCU, Vanderbilt, and The Mayo Clinic, I finally received the answers I had been searching for when I was diagnosed with autonomic nervous system conditions called POTS and IST. 

My heart/adrenal condition changed my life and career path forever and forced me to give up nursing. As a result, I became angry and bitter. Struggling with daily, debilitating symptoms, I was forced to learn my new normal.

While visiting family and my hometown church in Tennessee on a fall Sunday morning, I experienced an extreme flare up of symptoms (rapid heart rate, dizziness, and palpitations, among many other symptoms). Don Piper, author of the popular book 90 Minutes in Heaven, was the featured speaker that morning. While I missed the entire message due to the “storm” of symptoms, I miraculously heard 18 words that changed my life forever. “If God can raise dead man back to life, just imagine what He can do for you!” In that moment, I came to a place of true acceptance of living with a chronic illness and traded the animosity for a life of meaning and purpose.

That Sunday morning, God started to rewrite my story. He gave me a vision to write cookbooks and become a motivational speaker. This was a bizarre vision, as I did not know how to cook, and I had only taken one speech class. Over the course of the next few years, I wrote & published two cookbooks – Be Your Own Chef 1 & 2. In the process, doors opened for me to speak and provide cooking demos on TV and in front of thousands of women at live events. God used my story to encourage women to overcome their struggles to pursue their God-given purpose.

In the midst of a rewarding new career, sadly I endured eight miscarriages, including the devastating loss of identical twins in 2012. The morning prior to our first ultrasound appointment, I had a nightmare. The dream started with my husband Chris and I happily walking hand-in-hand, but someone said, “You are in the wrong place.” Next, we found ourselves on a wooden raft in the middle of the ocean. Chris was sitting in front of the wall and window, when I looked through the window and saw a tsunami rapidly approaching. My husband mouthed, “I love you.” All at once, the tsunami engulfed the raft. Immediately, I woke up in a panic, realizing that the dream symbolized something about our appointment later that day.

When we arrived for the appointment, the lady at the front desk informed us that we were in the wrong location, and she redirected us to the correct location. Once we arrived and underwent the ultrasound, the nurse’s tone changed. “Your baby is dead.” She instructed me to put my clothes on and stated the doctor would see us at the end of her shift. We were escorted into what appeared to be a storage closest and were forced to endure an hour-and-a-half wait for the doctor.

Eventually, the nurse walked us to the doctor’s office. The doctor informed us that we were having Momo twins, but that they were dead. I asked her if I could pray for a miracle. She uttered words I will never forget, “What’s the point?! They are dead.” After a long discussion about our options, we left feeling hopeless. 

A few weeks later, I underwent a traumatic DNC. I never realized how much love I could have for babies I would never see or keep. Sadly, only about 1% of Momo twins survive, but the pain of losing them was devastating.

A few months later, we lost another pregnancy. Soon after, we transferred over to a high-risk pregnancy doctor and one whom I had previously worked for. She prescribed progesterone to help keep the next pregnancy viable. Shortly after, I became pregnant once again.

Our miracle baby Ryan was born in 2014, but not without some major complications and struggles. Throughout labor & delivery, both Ryan’s and my heart rate skyrocketed and plummeted off-and-on. I was in-and-out of consciousness, and my body was constantly convulsing. With a life-and-death situation on their hands, the doctor performed an emergency C-section. Thankfully, we both survived, and we welcomed a healthy baby boy to the world.

 

Yet, in the midst of the celebration of new life came the devastating news that my brother Bryan had little chance to live. Right before my due date, he had a brain aneurism and had been in a coma for two weeks. Three days after Ryan was born, Bryan passed away at the young age of 39. Due to our complications and being out-of-state, we were unable to attend the funeral.

There are times in our journey that we wonder why  and how much more can we take. Losing my brother during the birth of my son is one of those moments. I will never understand why my brother passed away at this exact time in my life. There are just some things we can’t understand and control. After working through all the emotions during that time, I know that God knew why and it was all part of His master plan.  

Early in Ryan’s life, I recognized he had some of the signs of Autism. After visiting several doctors, he was diagnosed with high-functioning Autism. I struggled to balance all the challenges that came with this diagnosis. Stress makes my condition worse, and the stress of this particular journey proved extremely difficult at times. Thankfully, we were able to provide Ryan with the resources he needed through the early intervention preschool program and through various therapy programs.

It’s interesting how God uses something seemingly insignificant to give us creative, bold ideas. Ryan’s preschool held a fundraiser selling jar candles & toppers. I bought a topper for a friend. She had no idea the purpose of the topper and thought it was just for decoration. I explained that it helps the candle burn evenly, but only fits on one size jar. I exclaimed, “Now if someone would just make one to fit on all jar candles, it would be a perfect world.” I paused, looked at my husband, and proclaimed, “Why don’t I just invent it?” My husband readily agreed, and the Adjustable Candle Topper was born. If it had not been for God rewriting my story, the birth of my son, and his school fundraiser, the idea likely would have never come to fruition.

The design process has had its share of ups and downs. Through the challenges along the way, our designer helped us create a magnificent, functional design. God continued to provide the right people at the exact steps along the journey.

After being let down by one company in the process, we struggled to know exactly where to go or whom to trust in the manufacturing process. Over the summer of 2019, we set up an appointment with a company in Richmond, and family friends assisted us by watching Ryan for a couple of hours. Afterward, we met one of their coworkers, whose son just happened to have had major success at launching and manufacturing several products. The very next day, his son reached out to us and connected us with the company who ended up manufacturing our candle toppers. Our miracle son led to a miracle connection!

 

 

Yes, my story has been a long hard journey, but I wanted you to hear about some of the many miracles God brought into my life from the many storms I endured. This glimpse of my life I have shared with you is only a small part of the greater picture. My full story consists of more hardship and struggles with precious rewards and triumphs. Throughout the years of many hardships and pain, giving up was never an option. When you recognize one door has been shut, you see that God is redirecting you to something greater than you ever dreamed possible. There will be times you may be angry with God and upset with your circumstances. There will also be those moments where you say why God and how could this happen to me? We will never understand half of it on this side of eternity but we have to never give up when life beats us down. It’s in those moments when God is hard at work carrying you through the storm of life to the other side and reveals to you another miracle. However, it’s all about having faith and trust that He has your best interest at heart. Miracles happen when you least expect them! I could not have done any of this on my own. I never thought this would be my life. Yet, God always writes a greater story than you could ever write for yourself.