JONESBORO, Ark. (AP) - As Patty Soward danced through the halls singing the Motown classic, “Can I Get a Witness,” she was a woman on a mission.
That mission was to share the news of her medical miracle with everyone, giving God all the glory.
“They thought I was going to die,” she said.
Two years later, Soward is writing a different chapter in her life’s story.
“I got symptomatic two years ago; I thought I was just not feeling good,” she said. “It started with little things. I wasn’t thinking clearly, and I’d forget things.”
Soward said she chalked it up to the aging process and didn’t think too much about it, but the associate pastor of First United Methodist Church said one Sunday she knew something was wrong.
“I got up to read the Scripture at the 8:30 service, and I missed some lines,” she said. “My husband asked if I was OK, and I told him I didn’t know, but I wasn’t going to miss church. At 11 in the sanctuary service, I did the same thing.”
The following Monday Soward went to work, but after missing an appointment she had forgotten, her late husband John Soward began to worry.
“I remember walking down the hall at the church and saying hi to the babies, but I don’t remember anything after that,” she said. “John followed me home, and I made wrong turns and didn’t know where home was. I missed our driveway.”
Later that night, things got serious. Soward was suffering from nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, commonly known as NASH - a serious condition of the liver.
“I was moaning and groaning,” Soward said. “When John turned on the light, he noticed my head had swollen. I had gone into a coma. I wasn’t aware of anything, and that went on for days.”
Soward remained in the hospital for several days, The Jonesboro Sun (https://bit.ly/1xCOMFS ) reports.
“They didn’t think I was going to make it,” she said. “They told my family they didn’t know what to expect if I woke up. I didn’t know anybody, I couldn’t walk, and I couldn’t talk.”
But Soward said the church kicked in and did what they do.
“People began to pray,” she said. “It was a long time before I even knew what prayer was anymore.”
On the recommendation of a surgeon who was a member of Soward’s church, she saw Dr. Satheesh Nair at Methodist University Hospital’s Transplant Institute in Memphis.
“They told me what to expect, and it was the worst-case scenario,” she said. “They said I’d never be OK and that I’d never be the same.”
Soward said her husband spent the whole last year of his life researching and studying the liver, learning everything he could to cook and take care of her.
“My doctor said I had a 2 percent chance of survival - and nothing he said I could do had above a 5 percent chance of survival,” she said.
But Soward had faith in something outside Nair’s prognosis.
“I told him, ’Let’s see what my God can do - I’ve got the God factor,’” she said. “Then I prayed, ’I know you don’t bless sarcasm, but God, give me a chance to sit across from him again and let him see your power through me.’”
Soward said when doctors saw no hope, she knew differently because she had all the hope in the world through Jesus Christ.
She did everything by the book, and she started improving.
“I don’t know what God’s got in store for me, but I know it’s good,” she said. “I am feeling like I used to feel for the first time in two years.”
With NASH, numbers are based on creatine, bilirubin and INR, Soward said, and she started at a 15.
“I was on the transplant list for 13 months,” she said. “When you’re at a 15, you’re looking at a transplant. It would go down to 10, then back up to 13.”
She asked doctors how to get to an 8, and they told her to “give it up.”
“The last time I went to the doctor, I was at an 8, and I was dancing and telling everyone with a set of ears,” Soward said. “Now I’m not in the transplant side of the office, and it means a lot just to be able to sign in on a different sheet.”
Soward goes back to the doctor every six months. She is still fighting, and she will continue to take medicines and vitamins for the rest of her life. There are still days when she needs to stay home.
“But my liver is doing something, and I know it’s because of the power of God,” she said. “If I wake up, I’m happy - and if I don’t wake up, I’m happier, because I’m with my savior.”
Soward said she asked her doctor if she would be truthful if she said healing was in her future.
“He said, ’With anyone else, I’d say no, but you’ve been different every step of the way,’” she said. “I’m doing so well, and God has been mighty good to me.”
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Information from: The Jonesboro Sun, https://www.jonesborosun.com
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