Most young married couples are preoccupied with choosing the furnishings for their new houses or discussing when to start having babies. Although you vow to love and support each other through thick and thin, you hope that life won’t throw too many curveballs that make you test that promise.
For Oklahoma couple Ryan and Jill Finley, however, the bonds of their matrimony and their personal strengths were unexpectedly tested when a rare medical emergency occurred.
Finding himself treading new territory, Ryan Finley was forced to make the hardest decision of his life as his wife fell into a coma. Then, something completely unthinkable happened. You won’t want to miss this remarkable story, read on!
Ryan and Jill live in Jones, Oklahoma. They worked hard all week and looked forward to taking it easy on the weekends. Ryan worked as a plumbing contractor, and Jill worked as a loan underwriter. They loved to just relax around the house together. On their days off, Ryan loved to sit on their front porch, reading the newspaper. His wife liked to sleep in, so he tried to be quiet so as not to wake her.
One Sunday morning in 2007 started as a typical day in the Finley household, but soon, Ryan would realize that the day would be far from ordinary.
“I went to wake Jill up, which is a miracle in itself as I never, ever, do that on Saturday mornings,” he later recalled.
He called her name but she did not respond. Surprised, he began to shake her but got no response from her even then. After that, he started to get nervous and scared. Ryan immediately called emergency services while simultaneously performing CPR on his wife.
Once the paramedics arrived, they checked Jill and took her to the Oklahoma Heart Hospital. Ryan followed the ambulance in his truck and waited for the doctors to assess her condition. Ryan discovered that Jill had a cardiac arrest, and the doctors were trying their best to revive her.
Jill underwent special medical procedures, and the doctors observed her for 24 hours. Meanwhile, Ryan stayed outside the emergency room, and the doctors kept updating him about her condition.
Soon, the doctors declared that Jill was in a coma. At that point, Ryan couldn’t believe what was happening. It was hard to accept that his 31-year-old wife struggled between life and death.
During the two weeks, she was in a coma, Ryan entertained the dozens of visitors who came to see Jill. One of them was Jill’s cousin, who brought his Bible and recited it aloud for almost an hour while standing in the hospital room. Before leaving, he left his Bible with Ryan and asked him to read some passages if he was interested.
After that day, Ryan read a few verses from the Bible aloud for several hours every day. He wanted Jill to gain consciousness because he couldn’t imagine living without her.
On the 11th day, Ryan went home to spend some time alone, where he thought about everything that had happened. The doctors had told him it would be better to take Jill off the life-support machines because her condition wasn’t improving.
After spending the entire night preparing himself to face the fact that Jill might pass away, he drove to the hospital and informed the doctors about his difficult decision. He agreed to pull the plug and turn off the life-support machines.
On the 14th day, the doctors took Jill off life support. She started moving and mumbling five hours later, but Ryan couldn’t watch her like that. He thought those were her final moments, so he went into the waiting area. He recalled:
“The nurse came out and said, ‘I think you need to come in, she’s talking.'”
Ryan went back to Jill’s hospital room after the nurse called him. At this point, Ryan thought Jill wouldn’t survive, and he felt he would see her talk for the last time. Ryan recounted:
“I walked in and Jill was talking. First thing she said was, ‘Get me out of here. I want to go home.'”
Ryan was stunned to see Jill talking, but he wanted to ensure that it was not temporary, so he asked her their pets’ names and a few mental math questions. To his surprise, she answered everything correctly. Jill even told him she wanted to go to her favorite restaurant to have Mexican food.
Jill revealed she struggled with her motor skills after her miraculous return. She had trouble brushing her teeth and tying her shoelaces, so she had to learn those skills from scratch.
After staying apart for two weeks, the couple made sure they spent every moment together, whether grocery shopping or walking in the park. They enjoyed each other’s company to the fullest because the two weeks had given them the biggest scare of their lives.
Watch the video below for more details:
Sources: OpposingViews, Today
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