This is the story of a couple who thought they lost everything when the wife went into a coma, and doctors advised the husband to let her go by turning off her life support, but God had other plans for them and blessed them with a miracle instead.
It was a fine Saturday in 2017 when Ryan Finley woke up from deep sleep and went to wake his wife, Jill Finley.
“I went to wake Jill up, which is a miracle in itself as I never, ever do that on Saturday mornings,” said Ryan.
The Oklahoma native said he called her name many times, but Jill didn’t wake up. He even tried yelling and shaking, but his wife didn’t respond.
Then he realized she wasn’t breathing. In panic and worry, Ryan called 911 and asked for immediate help.
He also performed CPR on Jill and tried to revive her, but nothing happened. When the paramedics arrived, they checked unconscious Jill and immediately took her to the hospital.
When Ryan reached the hospital, the doctors told him that his beloved wife had a cardiac arrest and her condition was not good.
“They took her to the Oklahoma Heart Hospital, and I followed them in my truck. She was taken to the ER, and the doctors monitored her. Almost 20 to 25 minutes later, I was informed that my wife had a heart attack,” the 31-year-old husband recalled.
Ryan said that the doctors told him to pray for his wife, and he couldn’t believe it at first.
“When a doctor tells you, you need to start praying, I feel it’s about as serious as it’s going to get,” he said.
He said after some time, the doctors declared that Jill had gone into a coma. According to Ryan, for the next few hours, he remained in denial as he couldn’t believe that his 31-year-old wife was at risk of dying within a matter of hours.
In his interview with Facing Life Head On, Ryan Finley shared that the next two weeks were extremely difficult for him and his family as they were worried about Jill’s life and if she’d ever be able to return from the coma.
He said he remained by his wife’s bedside in the hospital and entertained many visitors who came to see Jill. One of Jill’s cousins came to visit her in the hospital and recited a few verses from his Bible.
“He stood in a corner and read for the Bible for over an hour, he read and read, out loud.” Said Ryan. “After he finished, he asked me if he should leave the Bible for me in case I was interested in reading the verses for her.”
“I said yes, why not. So I took it, and I read for her. I read for hours and the day went by. But she was lying in the same state… unconscious, not knowing what was happening.”
He added that on the 11th day, he went home for the first time since she was admitted to the hospital. Ryan said that he wanted to take some time off to think about things as he was upset and couldn’t think of losing her wife.
But when he went back to the hospital, the doctors told him they intended to remove her life support as there was no hope of Jill coming back to life.
“On June 9, the 14th day since she went into a coma, I asked the doctors to do whatever they felt right. I told them they could remove the life support if she wasn’t coming back. So they did. It was June 9, 2017,” Ryan said.
But almost five hours after her life support was removed, Jill moved a little, and then she began to mumble.
“I thought those were her final moments; I couldn’t watch her, so I went outside to the waiting area. I was devastated. Then the nurse came to me and said I need to come back inside,” Finley recalled.
“I walked in, and Jill was talking. The first thing she said was, ‘Get me out of here. I want to go home.'”
He said that he was shocked to listen to her; she was still murmuring, but he went on to ask her a few questions like their pet’s name and a few mental math questions to ensure she was fine and that it wasn’t temporary.
“She even told me that she wanted to eat at her favorite Mexican restaurant.” He said.
In the interview, Jill revealed that she didn’t remember anything from her stay at the hospital. She said that she only had a feeling that she went somewhere for a long time but eventually came back.
When the couple was asked if they could tell how Jill came back to life, Ryan said, “God. Divine intervention. I honestly feel that way.”
Speaking to Facing Life Head On, Jill also revealed that she struggled with her motor skills after waking up from the coma.
“I had trouble brushing my teeth and tying my shoelaces, so I had to learn those skills from scratch.”
Regarding Ryan’s decision to remove her life support, Jill said he did the right thing because she did not want to spend her life on the bed as a vegetable.
The interview concluded with Ryan saying that after a year, he still checks on his wife in the middle of the night to ensure she is okay.
“There’s still not a night that goes by that I don’t wake up. I’ll usually kick her, and if she kicks me back, I know we’re OK.”
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Source: Facing Life Head On
