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Writer's pictureSteve Jordan

Chapter 10: Lyndi's Miracle


As the air ambulance is heading toward the hospital the attendants are working to stabilize Lyndi. She is still unconscious and nothing the nurses do, get her to respond. They were getting concerned and were in constant communication with the hospital ER. Amy was still in shock over the day’s events and was quietly sitting in the corner of the helicopter praying over and over that God would intervene. As they were landing, Lyndi began convulsing and the attendants were giving her medication to calm down the seizures. They immediately took Lyndi from the ambulance and rushed her into the ER. Still convulsing, the ER doctor assessed the situation and immediately scheduled an operating room to reduce the swelling in her brain that was causing the seizures. The nurse came up to Amy, who was considerably shaken by what she was seeing and said, “We need your authorization to allow the doctors to operate on your daughter."

Amy signs the document and asks, "What are they going to do? Can I be with her?"

The nurse responds, "It looks like her brain has some swelling from the injury and is causing her to seize. We need to put in a drain and induce a coma to try and stop the swelling."

Amy begins to cry, "Please, take care of my daughter! She is a very special young lady!"

Nurse, "Come here, honey! She is in the best hands possible!" She then hugs Amy.

Amy, "All I could do is just pray that she would be ok!"

Nurse, "That is the best thing you can do. God has blessed these doctors with amazing abilities. She is in good hands!"

As they are ushering Lyndi to the operation room, Amy follows alongside the cart until they reached the operating room doors. The nurse said, "We will take it from here. Why don't you go to the waiting room and we will come and get you the minute we are finished."

Amy stands back from the doors as Lyndi and the doctors disappear. All alone, she drops to the ground and begins to sob uncontrollably. Everything that has transpired over the past few hours finally took its toll and she realizes that Lyndi could be in serious shape. Even worse, she could have died! She gathered herself and walked back to the waiting room when her phone rang. It was Ty. "Amy, finally! I have been trying to call you. What is going on?"

Amy, "Ty, she is really hurt. In the ambulance she began to have seizures and when we got to the hospital emergency room, they immediately rushed her to the operating room to relieve the swelling in her brain. They are there right now putting in a drain. But Ty, they are going to put her into a coma! Ty, a coma! Just like when you were in the hospital! I don't think I can go through that again!

Ty, "Amy, honey, I will be there in about 15 minutes. I am so sorry you had to go through this alone. But listen. That is expected since she took a pretty nasty hit on the head. This is not like my situation where I had a brain aneurism. This is normal procedure when the brain swells."

Amy, "Ty, is she going to be alright?"

Ty, "Amy, they have the best doctors and we have prayed that God will take this over. We must have faith that he will. It is in God's hands."

Amy, "I know, but it is so hard to let go. There has to be something we can do?"

Ty, "Amy, we did all we could to get her out of the canyon and to the hospital. Now it is up to them to pull her through! Look, I am just getting to the entrance. Let me hang up and park and I will see you in a minute!"

Amy, "Ok, just hurry!"

Ty pulls into the hospital entrance and valet's his vehicle. He runs into the hospital and knows exactly where the emergency waiting room is from when Amy was kicked by the horse. As he arrives, he greets a scared and crying Amy and they embrace. Amy is clutching onto Ty saying, "I am so glad you are here. Ty, I am going crazy. What if we lose our girl?"

Ty, "Amy, you need to get those thoughts out of your mind. We have prayed through this and believe that if there is anything that needs to be done to bring our girl back, it is being done now!"

Amy, "Ty, there could be.."

Ty, "Amy, don't go there! Let's take this one step at a time. We can only do what is here and now. We will handle what is to come when it comes!”

Amy hugs Ty even tighter and say, "You are my rock, Ty Borden!"

Ty's phone rings and it is Lou. "Ty, what has happened?"

Ty, still holding on to Amy says, "Lou, Lyndi has been injured and it looks pretty serious. They have her in surgery now trying to get her stable. Lou, I can't talk right now, I just got here, and Amy is pretty upset. Let me call you back when things settle down, ok?"

Lou, "Ty, Ty, were, are you? I am coming, now!"

Ty, "We are in Calgary at the hospital."

Lou, "Peter and I will be there as quick as we can."

Ty, "Can you let the family know?"

Lou, "We will. See you shortly."

Ty hangs up with Lou when the doctor comes into the waiting room. He is the same doctor who treated Amy when she was kicked by the horse. "Dr. Borden, so we meet again! I understand this is you and Amy's daughter. Can you tell me what happened?"

Amy, "We were on a trail ride and Lyndi's horse spooked and threw her into the canyon. She fell about 30 feet to a ledge and hit her head on a bolder. It took us about 1 hour to get her out of the canyon and into an air ambulance which brought her here. However, when I got to her, she was not breathing so I started CPR and after a few minutes and a lot of prayer she started breathing again. Ty was able to stop the bleeding when he got to her, and he stabilized her legs. She kept going in and out of consciousness."

Doctor Smith, "How long was she not breathing?"

Amy, "I am not really sure. It took me about 15 minutes to get to her and I was able to get her breathing after about 3 minutes. Why?"

Doctor Bernam, "Well, we have a situation. We were able to stop the convulsions by creating a vent and putting her into a coma. What we don't know is if there has been any damage caused by the lack of oxygen to her brain. We need to keep her induced for about 3 to 5 days to get her swelling down. Our situation is that her legs and hip are badly broken and we need to get those set before too long. Preferably before she comes out of the coma. The risk is performing the operation while she is in the coma. There could be some complications during surgery. My suggestion is to take the risk to alleviate any permanent damage to her legs and hip."

Ty, "Doctor, we trust you so if you think we need to have the surgery, then surgery it is."

Amy, "Ty, are you sure? Doctor if we wait what are the issues with her hip and legs?”

Doctor, "Well, we can't know for sure but bones that are not set within a few days of a break can begin to heal abnormally which can alter her ability to walk or even ride on a horse, which I understand is something that is very important to her."

Amy, "Can we take a day to pray and discuss this?"

Doctor, "I can give you a day. Also, we will be able to assess her progress with swelling reduction."

Ty, "Thank you doctor. We will get back with you."

Doctor, "I will say a prayer, too. Maybe we can catch a miracle here!"

The doctor turned and retreated to the operating room and Ty and Amy sat down in the waiting room. Ty reached for Amy's hand and began to pray. "God, we need your help to return our Lyndi to us. We need a miracle Lord, so please hear our prayers." Amy reached up and grabbed hold of Ty and embraced him. "It's in God's hands now!"

Lou, Katie, and Georgie made their way to the waiting room, followed by Peter and Quinn who went by and picked up Jack. As the family arrived, they were anxious to find out what had happened and how Lyndi was. Ty sat them down and began to tell the events of the day. Then, Amy added, "Lyndi has been severely hurt and they had to put her in a coma to reduce the swelling in her brain. They want Ty and I to make a decision by tomorrow, to operate to set her broken bones. There is some risk in that, but the Doctor recommends it. Oh, and the doctor is the one who treated me when I was kicked at Hill Hearst."

Lou, "Well that is good. I would trust his recommendation."

Jack, "Ty, what are you thinking?"

Ty, "Amy and I prayed about it and thought we would wait and see if God gives us a sign about what to do, but I trust our doctor and I think we are leaning towards having the surgery. Maybe THAT IS THE SIGN!"

Katie, "So what if you guys wait?"

Amy, "She might not be able to ride again!"

Georgie, "That would break her heart. She has visions, like you Amy, to work with horses as a career."

Amy, "I know, but the surgery risk is almost as bad."

Ty, "Well guys, Lyndi has always prayed for all of us when we needed help. Now we must pray for her. Pray also for clarity for our decision about the surgery.”

The family settled into the waiting room so they could be close to Amy and Ty. Tim and Shane took the twins to Big Sky for the night. Doctor Smith came back with an Orthopedic Surgeon to update Ty and Amy. Dr. BernamSmith, "How are you guys holding up? Lyndi is really doing well. Her swelling is subsiding and her vitals are in a good place. I brought Dr. Fredericks. He will be the Ortho surgeon that will be setting Lyndi's legs and hip. I thought you might want to ask him some questions to help you make your decision. I must say with the progress we are seeing with Lyndi, I feel more confident in my recommendation. I think your prayers are helping us get Lyndi out of the woods."

Dr. Fredericks, "Ty, Amy, it is good to meet you. I am so sorry it has to be under these circumstances. I really want to encourage you to get Lyndi's bones set. With the severity of the injuries, we need to get those bones set correctly as soon as possible and I have performed this procedure under these circumstances many times so I am confident with Lyndi's good prognosis that the surgery will be successful."

Ty, "I understand about the urgency to correct the breaks. I am a vet and we have the same urgency with animals. My concern is her strength and ability to handle that surgery while in a coma."

Amy, "Doctor, if she was your daughter what would you do?”

Dr. Fredericks, "Amy, Ty. That WAS my daughter 10 years ago. I had to make that decision."

Ty, "Wow, I assume it was the right decision."

Dr. Fredericks, "She has a volleyball scholarship to the University of Calgary."

Ty, "Then I guess we have made the decision." As he looked at Amy, who with tears in her eyes, was nodding yes.

Dr. Bernam, "You made the right choice. We will schedule the surgery for tomorrow morning. Why don't you guys go home and get some sleep."

Both Ty and Amy requested they stay with Lyndi and told the family the news and sent them home. They headed towards her room and Amy put her arm around Ty and her head on his shoulder. "I feel this is the right decision, right?"

Ty, hugging Amy back, "We prayed for a sign and I think we got one!"

Amy, "Let's go love on Lyndi and get her through this. I think she will know we are there."

Ty and Amy go into the ICU where Lyndi was lying with machines wining and her little breath driving the rhythm of the room. They each grabbed a hand and sat beside the bed. Amy put her head on Lyndi's chest and said, "Lyndi, honey, your dad and I are here with you! Everyone is praying for you. We love you so much. You are going to get through this." Both Amy and Ty have been through this and they are confident that Lyndi hears their words.

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