Day 3 - Gratitude Challenge 2021

Many people go through obstacles in life that lead them to think, at one point or another, there is no way out or that it won't get better. I am one of those people! I've faced a few obstacles that made me feel as if I was defeated.

But, I'm always reminded of miracles in my life! The biggest one that comes to mind, happened just four years ago, five days after my son's birthday...I was home, early morning, off work, talking with my friend and cousin on the phone. I kept getting another call, I sent it to voicemail three times as I didn't recognize the number and I was enjoying my chat. The fourth time, I answered...

...a voice on the other in of the line, "Is this Mrs. Jackson?" Yes, I replied. "Ma'am, I am a nurse calling from XYZ Hospital and I'm sorry to inform you that your son has been shot..." At that moment, my heart sank then felt as if it came back to my throat and I dropped to my knees, the woman's words became were inaudible to me. Then, I hear, "Ma'am! Ma'am! Are you still here?" Yes, I replied and said, did you say that my son was shot? Who is this? Please don't make jokes of this nature. The woman on the other end assures me that this isn't a cruel joke. I asked her to please repeat what she said,

"Ma'am, you sone was the victim of a robbery and was shot in his femoral artery. He is in critical shape and at this time, he has been in the OR for six hours now. We are not certain that he will make it as he's lost a significant amount of blood and doctors are having a hard time repairing the artery. We advise you to please come to the hospital as soon as possible. Normally, we will not relay news like this over the phone but we had no way of informing you or anyone until an officer from the scene gave us his things from the paramedics. His phone is locked but we were able to answer it and we told the person on the other end that there was an emergency and we needed to contact a next of kin."

I couldn't believe what I'd just heard. One would think that I'd scream in agony but I was simply numb. I remember feeling like, I'm going to get to the hospital and it will not be as bad as I'm thinking or what the nurse mentioned. Knowing myself, and delayed reactions to things, I called an Uber instead of driving to the hospital. For the first 10 minutes of the ride, I was calm and quiet, talking to God in my mind. After 10 minutes, I began to call my family and inform them what had been told to me. I finished making calls and the Uber driver says to me, "Ma'am, I'm not being nosey but, obviously I can't help but overhear. May I please pray with you?" How could I resist such an offer?

The driver pulled to the side of the road, she prayed for my son. I thanked her again. After the prayer, we proceeded to the hospital in silence. An hour after leaving home, I arrived at the ER entrance, signed in, and was escorted to another part of the hospital to a waiting area. As I waited, other family members began to arrive. We sat in silence, at waited! Finally, an hour after arriving at the hospital, a doctor came to the waiting room. "Mrs. Jackson, the surgeon is still operating on your son. We've had a breakthrough and the surgeon has begun to repair the artery. We've replaced his units of blood and we think he'll pull through. We can tell you more in an hour."

This was what we all were waiting to hear...he has a chance. A heaviness left the room as that doctor left the waiting room. We could all breathe a bit easier. It no longer felt as if my heart was stuck in my throat. Those of us in the waiting room could break the complete silence. and I would finally break free of composure and allow my tears to flow. But, they weren't tears of sadness or fear but of relief as I now understood that my son had a fighting chance to live!

And, live he did! After nearly nine hours of surgery and two weeks in the hospital, he walked out - with help - bruised, in pain, and unbalanced but better than he'd arrived! He would have months of recovery and therapy, both physical and mental.

He would suffer mental scares for years to come and continue to work through the trauma.

But, the most important thing to us was that he walked out able to thank God for sparing his life!

Extreme situations like these, have a way of turning what you have into enough. And, as my son walked out of the hospital with a limp and a little battered, I was grateful that he was still able to tell me his silly jokes. How can I not be grateful?

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N'cki Jaxon