We are Adrian and Angie.

We have been married for

5 years and we have two daughters.

 

Angie was 36 weeks pregnant with

Natalia and scheduled for a Caesarean

Section on the 8th of Apr 2021.

 

Angie: The 19th of March started as a regular day for me. Towards the middle of my 3pm class however, I suddenly felt really faint and heavy headed. I managed to finish the class. After that, My colleagues quickly led me to pantry to rest. I started vomiting non-stop. Unbeknownst to those around me, I lost consciousness while in the pantry.

 

Adrian: I got a call from Angie’s hand phone around 3.45pm from her colleague saying that Angie was having severe food poisoning and could not drive herself home. And I needed to go down and drive her back. I found Angie unconscious and still simultaneously vomiting.

 

We rushed to NUH A&E and Angie was assessed to have suffered massive bleeding in the brain from ruptured vessels, a rare condition called AVM (Arteriovenous malformation). She had to undergo 2 emergency procedures back to back - 1 for caesarean section to save Natalia and 1 brain surgery to stem the bleed and remove the ruptured vessels.

 

I was falling apart but surrounded by close friends

 

I was falling apart essentially but surrounded by close to 30 to 40 people from our families to cell group and church friends. Everyone was praying continuously for Angie and Natalia’s life.

 

Angie: The first 2 weeks in the hospital were spent in intense pain to the point when I could not be sure if I could make it each day. I think I also had a total loss of memory in the first 2 weeks. I could not remember the people who had visited me even though they told me about it.

 

I was unable to walk because my muscles were so weak, unable to retain information. Above all, I was extremely confused by the

 circumstances of waking up every day without a baby inside me and how things came to be. This led to depression and violent bursts of anger.

 

Adrian: I was absolutely relieved and grateful that Angie and baby had survived the operations but the intense stress and anxiety over whether Angie would recover and regain her faculties was indescribable in light of how young our children were. The lowest point for me happened about 1 week after the operation when Angie suddenly turned to me, blank and stoic, and repeated numerous times “you know what darling, I think my time is done, it’s time for me to go home to God; I miss my Maker. You’ll be ok with the girls.”

 

I was not sure why she said that that day – whether it was the medication that she was on or just the state that she was in, but it really racked me even further from how much I had fallen apart at that point.

Angie: There was one particular night when I held on to Adrian’s hand and said, “Can you don’t go home? Can you just stay with me? “ I was filled with an overwhelming fear of death. But Adrian spoke with so much authority that night that it calmed me down quickly.

 

Adrian: One of my cell members had shared with me a vision he received (which I myself had received in a dream) while Angie was in the ICU – the day after her operation. The vision was of angels encamping around Angie’s bed with their swords drawn and their

shields raised in defence of Angie in the ICU. One of the messages that we received from the Lord is quite clear to us was our wedding verse from 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” That is something that Angie and I are holding on to, especially on days when things get really difficult.

 

The Lord hears the smallest of prayers

 

Angie: When I came back from the hospital after 3 weeks of being there, and I saw Michaela, my elder daughter, I just couldn’t stop crying. It finally struck me that I could have lost the chance to see her

forever if I didn’t make it through the operation.   The fear of death came back every night around 6 o’clock during the first 2 weeks.  Every night I would tell Adrian that I needed to go and hide for a while because I could not bear the thought of that fear.

 

When Kelvin and Lucia, members of our cell, came by, I told them about it and they prayed over me. The next day, the fear disappeared and it never came back. That reminded me of how powerful prayer is, even the smallest of prayers, the Lord hears us.

 

We are still in the process of recovery and re-learning. There are many days when it gets  difficult to cope. There are frequent moments of panic attacks, depression and the confusion that comes and goes. But one of the thing that we are so grateful for is that we’ve been carried along by the prayers of so many people. We are so grateful for our cell members and our close friends, and families - the practical love that they showed us through calls, through visits and through messages. We felt so loved during this entire ordeal.

 

Adrian: The Lord’s message for us during this time is to use the current afflictions that we are enduring to come alongside other people we may meet along the way who are similarly afflicted. And so we soldier on in the knowledge that there is work in the Kingdom yet to be done, and we seek God for his direction as to what we do and how to use that experience that we’ve been given.