Healed in Time to Walk Daughter Down the Aisle

“I remember sitting in the driveway of the house and I’m like, 'No, no, no,'” said Lisa Zirkle. “'Lord, help me.' And I knew that wasn’t the time to have a meltdown."

Lisa Zirkle had reason to worry. Her husband Doug, a type 1 diabetic and kidney recipient, hadn’t shown up to their earlier appointment, hadn’t come home, and wasn’t answering his phone – very unlike the 58-year-old pastor. 
        
Lisa recalled, “Something’s really wrong. Did he go off the road? Did something happen?” Panicked, Lisa called nearby Memorial Hospital and learned first responders had just brought him in. Doug had gone into diabetic shock and crashed his car into a ravine. “They said, 'You need to come now.' And I’m like, 'Whoa!'"

At the E.R., Lisa learned Doug had a broken back, two brain bleeds and his blood pressure – already critically low – was falling. Both Doug and Lisa were taken to a local airport where a medically equipped airplane waited to take them to a trauma center in Denver. In flight, Lisa watched as two nurses struggled to keep her husband alive. 

“I knew it was bad. I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t thinking, 'Oh, he’ll make it.' I never thought that. I’m thinking, 'Lord, is this the day? Please no!'" said Lisa.

At UC Health University of Colorado Hospital, Doug was rushed into surgery. His blood had become toxic and doctors suspected there was internal bleeding. They were not optimistic he would make it. 

Lisa said, “I don’t remember the exact words, but it was basically like, 'this is the last-ditch effort. We gotta do this or we’re just going to watch him die.'”

“I’m just praying like crazy. I’m like, 'Lord, what’s going on? And just help me know what to do.'"

Lisa called family and friends, and the news traveled quickly. As people prayed, doctors continued looking for answers. Then finally, after working on Doug for five hours, the surgeon came out to talk to Lisa. “And she said, 'I kept him down there so long because I couldn’t find anything wrong.' She said, 'I looked and looked. I looked at his spleen. I was looking everywhere to see if I missed something.' And she said, 'I couldn’t find anything. In fact, his organs looked pristine.'"
        
There was more good news. Doug’s blood pressure had improved, and scans showed the brain bleeds had subsided. Lisa says there’s only one explanation: Prayer.

She said, “Absolutely! No question! None!”

However, Doug still needed a surgery on his spinal cord and another miracle. Orthopedic surgeon, Dr. C.J. Kleck says even then, there were no guarantees he’d ever walk again. “So, from the standpoint of his spine we were concerned about one thing: function. We needed to get his function back. We needed to get the nerves to recover,” Dr. Kleck said. “But the reality is it still comes down to fixing it and then watching.”

The surgery went as well as it could. Doug would spend the next two weeks recovering in ICU before being moved to rehab. Fading in and out of consciousness, he began understanding what had happened to him.  

Doug recalled, “I remember hearing things like, 'He may not walk.' And I remember asking, 'Hey, am I going to walk again?' And I don’t remember an answer.” 

“I remember just thanking God. It wasn’t that I was alive. I was thanking God because he was with me. I just knew it.”

Several weeks passed and Doug still couldn’t walk. Yet he didn’t give up hope. “I had different people loving me, lovingly pray for me and say things like, 'I feel like you’re going to walk.' You know what? I received it, I accepted it. I wasn’t worried about it,” said Doug.
        
Dr. Katherine Payne is the rehab unit’s medical director. She said, “I think looking at Doug, he had a severe injury. So, I think we were anticipating that after leaving rehab that he’d still probably be needing to rely on a wheelchair for mobility.”

When Doug was discharged and sent home he still couldn’t walk. He and Lisa - along with their church - continued to pray, refusing to give up hope. 
        
Doug said, “Even after I got home I had continuous therapy for a while. Because my goal was to walk my daughter down the aisle on the next Father’s Day."

Ten months later after much prayer and hard work... Doug reached his goal. Doug said, “The Lord was with me. I’ve never felt so assured of God’s presence ever.”

Sometime after the wedding, Doug stopped by the rehab unit for a visit. They hadn’t seen him since he went home. 
          
Dr. Payne said, “I vividly remember the first time he came up and he stood up and walked towards us and everyone. I think I was cheering. Shocked! It's amazing. He’s made tremendous progress. It’s been fantastic to see.”

Dr. Kleck said, “The first day he walked into the clinic was amazing. It doesn’t always work that way. And so, the days that you get to see it work that way, those are the ones you are excited for.”

Doug, Lisa, their kids, and grandkids are thankful for every moment they have together, and believe that God, through prayer made it possible. 

Lisa said, “It just really firmed up even more my beliefs that, 'Lord, you’re in control.'"

“It was just a car wreck and God manifested his presence,” said Doug. “And it’s all about His glory, you know.”