God's healing power saves ORU student
By Jason Bowen

Over the summer ORU senior Dee Pearson became extremely ill. Contracting strep throat from an unknown source, she began feeling cramps in her side one Friday afternoon in July. She visited St. Anthony's hospital in Denver, Colo. on a Saturday, but was mis-diagnosed and sent home with pain medication to help relieve the stress in her side.

By Monday she was still in severe pain. She returned to her physician and was promptly sent to the University of Colorado, only 30 to 45 minutes from death. Immediately, she was admitted into intensive care. There, she was sedated and hooked up to artificial respiration and large amounts of antibiotics while fluids were pumped into her system through an IV.

Dee would unknowingly spend three months in the hospital. Her journey would be a hard one, but through the healing power of God, she would make it through.

For an unknown reason Dee's immune system was weak when she contracted the illness. This was further complicated by the fact that for the first month Dee was in the medical intensive care unit, she remained unconscious due to the amount of sedatives the doctors had prescribed her. Because of her weakened immune system, the sickness, which in most cases would have been fought off, invaded her system causing severe damage.

The sickness resulted in many complications, the first of which was kidney failure. For several weeks she was placed on dialysis. She then developed blood clots throughout her body, causing extremely low blood pressure. She also suffered a heart attack, but sustained no permanent damage.

Several times throughout her stay at University Hospital, the doctors told Dee's family that she probably would not make it through the night. On one occasion her hematologist informed her family that bleeding was occurring in her stomach and lungs and that, if it didn't stop, there would be nothing he could do.

Dee's aunt, a graduate of ORU who had traveled to Denver to pray for Dee and be with her and her family looked the doctor in the eye and said, "We have been praying for you to make the right decisions concerning my niece; just do whatever is on your heart to do."

At that the point the doctor took off his glasses and said, "Thank you so much. I feel the best thing right now is to do nothing, and I didn't want to do it without an assurance." Several hours later, the bleeding miraculously stopped in Dee's body, much to the surprise of the doctors.

The same doctor, who was a non-Christian, told the family a couple of nights later that God had awakened him in the middle of the night and given him specific instructions concerning Dee's treatment. He said that because of the ensuing miracle in Dee's life, he was now a believer.

After almost a month-and-a-half of induced unconsciousness, Dee awakened to a much improved situation. Shortly thereafter, however, she began to feel pain in her head. Upon conduction of a CAT scan, the doctors saw there was intra-cranial bleeding in her head.

This would occur four times in a two day period. The neurologist in charge of Dee thought it would be best to operate on her head to relieve the swelling that was caused by the hemorrhaging between her brain and her skull. They did so four times. The doctors informed Dee's family that she might not live through the surgery and that, if she did, there would be a large chance she would suffer from brain damage and might even become brain dead.

When the surgery was over, doctors told Dee's mother that she wouldn't wake up for two or three weeks. Miraculously, Dee was fully awake a few days later and after MRIs, CAT scans and various tests, the doctors concluded that there was no damage to her brain.

After the second month in the intensive care unit, Dee finally gained enough strength to be discharged to a rehabilitation floor. Because of the amount of time she spent in bed, she had lost three waist sizes and bottomed out at 99 pounds. She was discharged on Friday, Oct. 11, the day ORU students were released for Fall Break.

Throughout her stay in the hospital, she was cared for by over 20 doctors and nurses. She underwent several blood transfusions, dozens of CAT scans, multiple surgeries and had to breathe using a respirator for almost a month-and-a-half. At one point to stop the bleeding in her lungs because of capiliritis1-a disease where the capillaries in the lungs burst-she was given a form a chemotherapy.

During the entire time her family, friends, school mates and the University were praying for God to bring his healing power to her body. That is exactly what He did.

When asked how this has affected her life Dee said, "At first I couldn't believe what happened to me. Before this, I wasn't sure what I was going to do after graduation. I am a senior, in pre-med, and I had been considering being a crime scene investigator or even staying for my nursing degree. I now know that I am going to medical school. I want to help people, and bring God's healing power and word to those who are sick as I was. I know what it's like to be close to death but still have hope in God for life and for healing."

Dee will try to return in the spring, and if not, she will definitely return to finish her senior year in the fall of 2003. She is currently living at home, regaining her strength by going to physical rehabilitation three times a week. She stated, "I really miss school and can't wait to come back so I can finish. I know I won't get to graduate with my friends, but that is okay because I know God has a plan for my life."

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