THE LIFE SAVING AWARD

Officer Jonathan Parker

Chattanooga, TN, Police Department

Each year, my department gives awards for performance in a variety of areas. In May of 2009, I received a Life Saving Award for an event that had occurred the previous July.

On a Wednesday night, a husband and his wife were enjoying the eighth day of their first child’s life. Around 11:30 p.m., they were awakened by the baby’s cries. When they went to check on the baby, the wife felt her heart racing. Her husband told her he’d check on the baby. “Go back to the bedroom and sit down,” he told her. Within moments, she collapsed on the bed from a massive heart attack and stopped breathing. Her husband quickly dialed 9-1-1 and began CPR. In the nearly eight minutes he worked on her, the husband cried out for a miracle from God. When the paramedics arrived, they shocked her with a defibrillator nine times—four before she regained a heart rhythm. While the paramedics were working, the husband felt led by the Lord to anoint her with oil, lay his Bible across her feet, and pray for a miracle. The paramedics later testified that was the turning point in the situation.

She then was transported to a local hospital before being airlifted to the regional trauma center. A cardiologist determined she had developed a tear in the left anterior descending artery, which clotted and created a major blockage. A stent was used to reestablish blood flow while she remained on life support. Doctors said she was not expected to live through the ordeal and stated categorically she would have brain damage after being clinically dead for at least 15 minutes.

Early Thursday morning, the husband felt directed by the Holy Spirit to read Hosea 6:1–3: “After two days he will revive us; in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight” (KJV). He accepted those verses as confirmation that by the third day, Saturday, God would raise his wife to a new life.

When he walked into her room that Saturday morning, she was sitting up in bed smiling and greeted him with “Hey, Babe!”. Once more, God’s Word had proved true.

How do I know the details so well, and what does that have to do with the award I mentioned in the beginning? The lady is my wife, and the award was for saving her life! The real reward is that both she and our daughter are well, and we continue to rejoice in the Lord!