Easter Miracles
By Kirsten Ballard
Published in News on April 5, 2015 1:50 AM
kballard@newsargus.com
Most people don't believe in miracles.
Hayley Burt does.
She and her family can testify that faith, prayer and love can defy logic, medicine and probability.
And they will be grateful this Easter when they share prayers and family time with Hayley's mother, Mary Kennedy. A tear or two might even be shed..
After all, they still haven't forgotten just how close they came to losing her.
*
On Feb. 5, Mrs. Kennedy went in for a routine, though major, back surgery. After the surgery, she would spend two nights in the hospital and then get to go home.
The surgery went well, doctors briefed Mrs. Kennedy's husband, Haywood, Hayley and her older brother Curtis on the procedure.
"They told us everything was beautiful," Hayley says.
Then disaster struck.
While doctors sewed her up, Mrs. Kennedy's blood pressure dropped. Her heart stopped and she went into cardiac arrest.
The anesthesiologist brought her back with CPR. She was put on a ventilator.
Doctors couldn't figure out what caused the heart failure, with no evidence of a stroke or heart attack. They did not know how long her brain had gone without oxygen, but scans showed it had swelled.
On Feb. 6 the doctors called a family meeting.
"The doctor told us he didn't believe in miracles, but that's what it was going to take," Curtis Kennedy said. "They told us all we could do was hope."
They began to pray.
"That night I just prayed," Hayley says. "Selfish me, it's my mama, bring my mama back. If you just will, it could be such a testimony. I promised Him all sorts of things."
Curtis and Hayley reached out to their church, family and friends on Facebook, posting statuses and asking for prayers.
On Feb. 7, Mrs. Kennedy began making involuntary movements. The doctor took her off the ventilator.
The family visited her in ICU constantly, talking to her, begging her to wake up, to open her eyes.
Stoney Creek Church, the family's lifelong church, said a special prayer for Mrs. Kennedy.
Sunday morning, Haywood Kennedy and his children went in to see his wife. Hayley and Curtis spoke to their mother at the same time.
Her eyes opened.
"She looked at us," Curtis says, still choking up with emotion when he tells the story.
Hayley says she can't describe how she felt when she looked into her mother's eyes. She bows her head and cries.
"That's all I kept saying before, just open her eyes, that's all I need. I felt like I could talk to her," she says.
Later that day, Curtis' wife, Debbie, noticed something had changed.
She called Hayley into the room.
Hayley and her father started across the breezeway. Hayley asked her dad the time.
It was 11:20 a.m. on a Sunday.
"How many people, right now, are praying for Mama?" she asked him. Different churches, denominations, friends and family were ending their Sunday worship service. "How many people, right now, right this minute?"
In the room, Mrs. Kennedy was trying to talk, mouthing silent words to her family.
A few days later, she was talking.
One of the first things they heard her clearly say was that she didn't want her husband to leave her. The two have been married 51 years. He visited her every day, missing only two because of the snow.
Her speech improved over the first week, and slowly, her short-term memory improved.
The ICU doctor called the family out of the room.
"I know I told you I didn't believe in miracles, but that lady in there is nothing short of a miracle," he told Curtis.
"We don't know why this happened," Haywood Kennedy says. "I believe everything happens for a reason, there were a lot of people touched by this and I think that doctor might have been one of them."
As she recovered, Mary read the account on Facebook of her brush with death. Curtis posted each day an update on his mother, whether she was craving a Pepsi or her progress with therapy -- and always imploring his Facebook friends to pray.
"She started crying while she was reading (the comments)," Curtis says.
He told his pastor, Johnny Sullivan, that this experience renewed his faith. He says he is grateful and spends his time in prayer in giving thanks now, instead of praying selfishly.
Mrs. Kennedy was out of ICU in a week, and moved to Wake Med Rehab center. She went through occupational, physical and speech therapy. Less than a month later, she was moved to a WilMed Rehab in Wilson, which is closer to home.
The family wears shirts with "Team Grandma" on the front, and Luke 18:27. The passage reads: "And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God."
Mrs. Kennedy continues to improve, as she works each day on walking and regaining her strength and mobility. She does not have a discharge date yet.
"I still have my pity parties, but that's to be expected," she says. "But I've come so far."
She has bonded with physical therapy assistant, Vickie McStoots.
"I latched onto her and she latched onto me," Mrs. Kennedy says, laughing.
Her biggest wish is to take her place at the table for a big family dinner surrounded by her children and grandchildren.
"She wants to walk out of there," Hayley laughs. "I say, 'that's okay, you can use a walker or a cane.'"
But Mrs. Kennedy wants to walk, by herself, out of the rehab center.
"We always had known she was tough, but not that tough," Hayley says. "I don't know, it's just a miracle, she's just a miracle."