17 years after moving to our property in Lucerne Valley, building the ministry infrastructure, sending out books and material to inmates, I was struck down and almost died. The devil hates God’s people. He hates this ministry. I was called by God to manage this ministry for Him. The devil did not like that. Therefore, on the 17th of August, 2020, I had such great pain in my neck and shoulder area I was almost unable to move. I called 911 and when the EMT arrived they basically told me I was in perfect health and therefore they were not able to take me to emergency. Three months before, my doctor told me I had the health of a 40 year old. I was 69 years old at the time.
My sister called a friend of hers and she took me to Saint Mary’s Medical Center. The reason they admitted me was not for the pain, but for kidneys that were failing because of the quantity of pain pills I had been taking for the pain. They didn’t work. However, God used those pain pills to get me admitted. If I had not been admitted because of my kidneys, I would be dead.
They stabilized my kidneys and then went to work exploring why I was in such pain. I was begging them to take the pain away. I got to the point where I could not feed myself. They took CT scans of my neck area and saw nothing. A few days later they took them again. This time they found abscesses on my backbone in the neck area. A few days later they sent me to get an MRI. That really concerned them. The abscesses were spreading.
They immediately contacted Loma Linda University Medical Center and arranged for me to be transported to them. Upon arrival they admitted me as a paraplegic. I was not able to move my extremities. The pain was from my neck all the way down to my toes. It was as if thousands of atomic bombs were being exploded in my body every second of every hour of every day. I wanted to die. I pleaded with them to shoot me. The pain was unbearable.
They took me in and had another MRI done on me. The “pus” was spreading rapidly down my backbone and up towards my brain stem. As it spread, it was compressing and eating away at my spinal column/cord and destroying my nervous system. They immediately took me into surgery. The back half of my cervical was removed. If the bacteria had moved up another few centimeters into my brain stem, I would have died.
This is what my back looked like when I was in intensive care.
I was not able to feed myself. I could not turn over without someone turning me. My life basically came to an end. All I could think about was the ministry. What would become of it? There were inmates who were looking to me to give them inspiration and hope, what would happen to them? Would the ministry die? Would 22 years of hard work come to an end? Would God allow that?
As it was getting close to the end of the month, and the ministry had financial commitments that needed to be taken care of, I called John, a member of the board. He lived in Missouri. I explained to him what would happen if we did not pay our bills. Also, the mail needed to be collected and processed. Inmates would be expecting their books.
John told his employer that he would be back as soon as possible. He hopped in his car and drove two thousand miles to California to take over the ministry. Of course he knew nothing about the work. Therefore, when he arrived, the nurses would dial the phone for me and then prop it next to my ear. For days, from eight in the morning until 5 in the evening I would be giving John step by step instructions on how to answer the mail, how to put the names of the inmates into the computer. Then, how to print the newsletters and books. I still do not know how we did that. Only the Spirit of God could have shared the information through me to John, where the Spirit of God used John to understand what was being transmitted. However, John was able to answer the mail and print the material needed to go out. This kept the ministry up and running.
End of month was right at the door. We had to pay our debts and obligations. Again, with the phone propped against my ear, I walked John through the process of paying off every obligation. It was truly a miracle. Considering my state of mind, the amount of drugs I was being given, the amount of pain I was suffering, it is not possible for me to have given John the information he needed. Only by the power of the Spirit of God was it possible.
John was at the ministry about 10 days cleaning it up and getting it squared away. Juan came up and John explained to him some of the methods needed to keep the ministry going. Then John had to go back to work, if he still had a job. When he got back, he not only had a job, he had three checks waiting for him. God blessed him for his dedication to this ministry.
From ICU I was transferred to a Critical Care Unit. There, more miracles of the Lord continued. The devil wanted to destroy the ministry, but God was going to turn it around and show His great and mighty power. It was about this time I learned what my medical condition was technically called: Epidural Abscesses. Nice name, but what pain. It appears to be very rare. It appears that there are no physical indicators for it. As in my case, it was the pain. And even with that, they had no idea what was causing the pain. The medical staff thought I was going to be a paraplegic for the rest of my life. But one morning when the neurological team came in to see how I was doing, I surprised them by kicking my left leg They were amazed. I told them my left leg was ready to play soccer, however, my right leg wanted to sit in the bleachers and watch. Never did they think I would be able to make this progress.
As the days progressed, the pain was intense. I pleaded with them to take away the pain. They told me they were giving me the highest doses of pain medication allowed and at the closest intervals allowed. However, they gave me other medication that was not classified as “pain medication” but did the same thing. So, I was receiving huge amounts of pain medication, and still the pain was unbearable.
Through it all, even though I wanted to die, I let the Lord know that I was His and I would do as He pleased. I wanted to serve Him, even there in the hospital. Many of the workers were so impressed by my smile, good attitude and joy I was bringing them. I explained to them that no matter what the situation, we must always keep a sense of humor and trust God.
Over the next few days, feeling came back to my body. However, just because I could feel didn’t mean I could move. The pain was so great, I still could not turn from side to side without assistance. I was bed-bound. They still had to feed me. I was not able to scratch my head, my ears or my nose. Do you know how awful that is? A catheter was inserted. This was not good.
As I improved over the next few days, they transferred me to Del Rosa Urgent Care facility. There I learned how to feed myself. Soon they began physical therapy. First there was simply learning how to sit up on the edge of the bed.
Next was learning to move from the bed to a wheelchair. This I learned rather easily and was soon able to scoot myself around the facility. From the wheelchair it was time to walk. The physical therapy team really didn’t think I could walk. They refused to let me do much walking. They said my blood pressure was too low. I had to wait until it came up to normal before they would let me walk.
Other activities were given me to do, such as peddling the bicycle. Trying to put a ball into a hoop and of course, attempting to build my muscles by pulling up weights.
Eventually I found myself at a standstill. I wasn’t getting the help I needed. Also, I had to get back to the ministry. Juan was doing a wonderful job of keeping the books and material going out to inmates. However, he had to drive over 200 miles every weekend to do the work. That was very tiring for him. He could not keep that up. I had to go home.
Alaska was in charge of discharging the patients. She told me to pick a date. I did, and she made sure that everything was arraigned for me. Juan took the day off and on a Friday I came home. Just getting out into the fresh air lifted my spirits. The ride home was awesome.
When I arrived home I was greeted by my “kids”. What love. They missed me so much. Not to say how much I missed them.
Sabbath was truly a day of miracles. While at the Urgent Care facility they did not think I would be able to walk, let alone walk up stairs. Every time I came to their steps, I would get very sick and want to vomit. How would I handle being home with eleven steps up to the bedroom?
Well, God works miracles. On Sabbath I walked up the stairs all by myself. At first I used a walker to traverse the house. But within a few days I was walking without it.
Since then I have been able to keep the ministry going forward. For a few more weeks Juan continued to come and help with the mail. But then I was able to do the work myself. Little by little my strength came back to me.
My right side is still much like a person with a stroke. My right foot drags a bit. My right hand needed help when brushing my teeth, shave and comb my hair. But slowly, even it is learning how to move.
My biggest problem was the pain in my neck and shoulders. It was in that area where the surgeon had to remove the abscesses from the spine. The pain was intense.
About a week after returning home I took the car for a drive around the property. I wanted to see if I could drive. Yes I could. Sitting in the car driving was not the problem. It was after getting to where I was going: the walk. But God blessed and I was able to drive to the Post Office which was only 5 miles away. That was the start. Soon I was able to stretch out my drives. God is blessing.
This brings us up to now. I am still recovering. My hands and feet feel like they are in ice. I don’t really know how I type except through the power of God. My feet and legs are unsteady. Every day is a trial in faith and endurance.
Through this experience I am learning to trust God even more than I had already trusted Him. I am learning that trust in God has no limits. We must learn to trust Him constantly. Our faith must continue to grow.
This ministry is dedicated to helping you develop greater trust, hope and belief in Jesus. As you study the material on our web site: www.jcpm.com, you will find your life drawing closer and closer to Jesus.
The interesting thing is, 40 years before this I broke my back in an airplane crash. FAA stated that I should have died in the crash. They could not believe the plane did not burn up.
However, God had a mission for me. Sometimes it takes a while for God to work out His mission for our lives. We must go through many trials and situations to come to where God wants us.
This ministry is now where God wants me. The devil keeps trying to destroy me, but God refuses to let him.