'God Has Been Gracious': Voddie Baucham Says He Expects Full Recovery After Being Discharged from Hospital
Christian preacher Voddie Baucham has been discharged from the hospital after undergoing "very successful" surgery for heart failure.
Baucham shared his good news in an Instagram video over the weekend.
"Hey, I wanted to give you the last Mayo Clinic update on my last day at the Mayo Clinic. They say I'm going home tomorrow, so very pleased for that," he said. "We'll be staying here in the area, having to come back for some checkups in a week, and in the month."
"But I just wanted to let you know that the procedure I went under yesterday was very successful," Baucham said in the less than three-minute video. "And that things were better than they had expected. And I am expected to make a full recovery. We'll learn more in the coming days and weeks. But for now, things look incredibly hopeful."
***Start Your Day with CBN News QuickStart!!! Go here to sign up for QuickStart and other CBN News emails and download the FREE CBN News app to ensure you keep receiving news from a Christian Perspective.***
"We have been amazed, Bridget and I both, and overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support and prayers from people all over the world," he continued.
Baucham recalled that he scared his wife one day after she found him sitting up in bed weeping. She thought something was wrong.
"What happened was I was reading comments from the GoFundMe, and I just had to stop. I was just overwhelmed," he said. "And so, thank you. It meant more than you could possibly know."
"There's still a road ahead. There's still work to do," Baucham told his followers. "But the hope is my heart will be able to repair and remodel, and I'll be able to get back to normal. And not have to worry about this as an ongoing thing."
"So again, just wanted to thank you," he said. "Just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate and how much Bridget and my family appreciate your prayers and your support. And I wanted you to see me with your own eyes to know that things are going well and that I'm doing well. That I'm on the mend. God has been gracious. God has been kind. I will definitely say more about the series of events that led us to where we are. And the series of events that took place, so that the team who did this, amazing team, could do this when they did it.
"But for now, I just want to say thank you," Baucham concluded.
As CBN News reported in February, Baucham said he began feeling ill toward the end of his preaching tour in Zambia after Christmas. Initially, he thought he had just overworked himself. But he soon realized it was something more than that.
"I had first noticed the symptoms at the end of December when Bridget and I returned to Dallas to bury her mother," Baucham wrote in a social media post. "I experienced fatigue, and shortness of breath, among other things. However, I chalked it up to traveling with heavy bags and restrictive masks (not the trifecta of heart defect, last February's mysterious 'pneumonia,' and untreated sleep apnea)."
The preacher described feeling like he was "being waterboarded every two or three minutes," symptoms that led him to check in at a medical center, where he underwent "a series of labs and tests that revealed the worst."
But Baucham says he is thankful for God's grace throughout his journey thus far.
"Bridget and I continue to marvel at the Lord's providence and rejoice in His goodness," he wrote.
According to the GoFundMe page set up for Baucham, the page's goal was reached and was exceeded by almost $170,000.
As of Tuesday, 13,000 donors had pledged $1,416,060 toward the preacher's medical expenses.
