Our Story

When I was 17, I went on a date with a ridiculously good looking friend of my brother. He was 20, and had been sick for a while. He had been in Peru, serving a mission for our church, when he got sick, and had to come home. We all thought that he was on the tail end of being sick, and was actually getting better! Fast forward a year and a half, I graduated High School, moved to college, we both went to a semester of school, got engaged at the end of the semester, in December, and got married in February 2007! My life was turning out EXACTLY as I had planned. We moved into a little apartment close to my parents, and settled into our new lives.

About 6 months into our marriage, we found out we were pregnant! We were very excited. We moved to a new town about an hour away, started new jobs, and were excited to start a new chapter. It wasn't long until we found out that we had lost the baby. We were devastated, and it took a while until we decided to start trying again. Luckily it didn't take too long, and December 2007, we were expecting again. We settled into our lives as newlyweds, and soon-to-be parents. When I was about 25 weeks pregnant, I was put on bedrest. I was no longer able to work, and had to quit my job. We knew things would be tight, but knew it would be worth it, to get our baby boy here safe and healthy! We were excited and quickly picked a name, and focused on all the new adventures we were going to experience . Soon, our lives were turned upside down!

It was a normal day for me, sleeping, and resting a lot. When my phone rang. It wasn't abnormal for my husband to call me and check up on me through out the day, so I wasn't concerned when I saw that it was him calling me. But the voice on the other end of the phone was not my husband. Instead it was his coworker. I can still remember EVERY WORD HE SAID, “Um, Hello? Don't have a baby or anything, but your husband is getting in an ambulance right now, and is going to the hospital. But he'll be okay, just don't have a baby!” My husband had been very worried that by someone calling me and telling me that he was in an ambulance, I was going to go into preterm labor. I was only 5 months along. I am pretty sure that I have never moved or drove faster in my life! We lived about 3 minutes closer to the hospital than my husband's work, so the whole time I drove to the hospital I kept looking for the ambulance. I thought that they were way ahead of me, because I had to get dressed before I could leave the house. On my way to the hospital, I called his parent's and mine. When I got to the hospital, the ambulance still wasn't there! I had beat them!

A few minutes after I walked in the hospital, the ambulance arrived. I was allowed into the Emergency Room with my husband for a few minutes, until they made me leave. I was told that his heart was not beating correctly. He had an abnormal rhythm called Atrial Fibrillation. His heart was beating at 204 Beats Per Minute (BPM) and then would drop to 50 BPM. It is a very dangerous condition. I was asked to leave his room, and my parent's arrived. I was escorted to the Cafeteria by my parents, while my husband was put to sleep, and underwent an Electrical Cardioversion. They shocked his heart twice, before they could get it to beat right. We were sent home soon after , and our new adventure began.

Over the next 3 years, we would have 3 kids (including baby boy), 3 miscarriages, 6 heart surgeries on my husband, a trip to Minnesota to the Mayo Clinic, countless doctor's and appointments, and FINALLY the one doctor that could actually help us. When we were in the middle of this journey, my husband could no longer work. I could not leave him home. We were stuck. My husband was very sick. His heart could not beat right. He was eventually diagnosed with Atrial Fibrillation, Atrial Flutter, and AV Nodal Re-Entry Tachycardia. These are all problems that older people have, not a 23-27 year old. My husband was fainting a lot. He was fainting anywhere from 20-60 times PER DAY!

I remember running across the neighborhood to a friend's baby shower when I was pregnant with our second son. Our oldest was napping, and usually slept for about 2 hours, so I helped my husband to the couch downstairs, gave him the baby monitor, and told him to call me if he needed anything. I promised to be back before our son woke up. I was gone for about 45 minutes when I got a phone call from my husband's phone. Once again, it was not his voice I was hearing. Instead I heard our 1 year old quietly tapping his Daddy's face, saying, “Cake up, Daddy. Cake up. I wuv you.” My husband had heard the baby crying, walked up the stairs to get him out of his crib, walked back downstairs, and set him down before he passed out. My 1 year old was able to call me from my husband's phone. I still do not know how, but he called me, he stayed calm, and he did what he had seen me do countless times. I again raced to my car, and got home before my husband woke up. Luckily my son was fine, and my husband only had a small cut on his forehead from fainting. But I never left my husband alone again. Whether he had the kids or not.

During the time that my husband was sick, I was lost. I didn't know how to find who I was. My life was not anything that I had ever dreamed it would be. I had never thought of losing a total of 4 babies, having 3 babies, and watching my husband have 6 heart surgeries. I became a caretaker at 20. I was making sure that my husband stayed alive. I knew (and still do know) how to read EKG's without ever taking a class, or being taught, because I had to. I could check my husband's pulse and tell him what was happening, whether his heart rate was normal or out of rhythm. I knew the signs to look for before he fainted. I knew the side effects of many new medications. I could fill out his medical papers in record time. I carried around a zippered folder with ALL of his medical records inside it, just in case we met someone that might be able to help him. I drove. I cooked. I cleaned. I raised the kids. I lost me.

I think that no matter what our life holds for us, we all have times that we lose ourselves. The key is finding ourselves again. I found that I am actually pretty handy in the kitchen! I started baking, and making up recipes, and serving others. I found myself by looking outside myself. It didn't happen over night, and actually when I talk about it now, people didn't even know that I was having a hard time. Putting on that happy face when people were around, became my daily facade. Once I found who I was, I could fight for my family.

It wasn't long after I started doing things for me, that we were referred to a new doctor. He looked at my husband, assessed his symptoms and history (he looked through my binder!), and he gave us a diagnosis! He put him on a new medication. He did a test, and confirmed his diagnosis. My husband had A-Typical Narcolepsy. Within just 3 months, he had lost 60 lbs of water weight. We had been told by his Cardiologist that once we figured out how to help him get better, he would lose a ton of weight, very quickly, and he did! We knew that we were on the right track! Within 8 months of being put on the new medication, he was no longer fainting, and was allowed to return to work. We found a job, moved, and never looked back! It has been 2 years since the last time he fainted. It was December 9, 2011 that he woke up one morning, felt sick, and fainted. He never did that again. He has been lightheaded, and had to artificially raise his blood pressure, but he has never fainted again. The nightmare is over!

I learned a lot through the whole experience. I learned that I am stronger than I give myself credit for. I became other people's shoulder to cry on. I am the person that people call to ask medical questions to. I am the one that can usually answer those questions! I have heard stories from people that I was able to help just by being myself. I learned that sometimes it is okay to lean on others, and need their help, when our community raised $10,000 to send us to the Mayo Clinic. I learned that I can be me, and learn new things, and speak up about what I want/need. My marriage was strengthened. My children were strengthened. My faith in humanity was strengthened.

My story isn't over. My life isn't perfect. We still face struggles. My husband is on daily medication, to make sure he stays healthy. My oldest son has separation anxiety from seeing his daddy in the hospital so much. But We are no where near rock bottom. We've been there. And we can only go up from here!