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| Beth in Baltimore after her surgery. |
Every once in a while you meet someone that makes you believe in the goodness of God all over again. Let me introduce you to Beth Reynolds, my neighbor and my friend. It was months after I met her that I began to learn about her journey.
We sat on her porch one September morning. Surrounded by her flowers and a multitude of plants—she opened up her heart and shared with me her long and circuitous story.
Her real trouble began about nine and a half years ago. She was an Educator with a PHD. She had held a multitudes of positions through the years from teacher to Principal to Superintendent to Consultant.
And suddenly it all turned sour. Every day at work things got worse. She agreed to help a professional friend in her district. That job change turned into a nightmare. In hindsight every day she found herself having to make decisions between the right thing and what her new supervisor demanded. The stress was enormous.
She began to experience physical problems. At first she said it felt like the blood was draining from her head. She experienced her first seizure six months after assuming her new position. She was taken to the Emergency room—where her heart rate had dropped to 40. The Cardiologist recommended a pacemaker immediately. 5 weeks later the symptoms returned. Still having seizures she saw a second Cardiologist who told her that the pacemaker was a missed diagnosis. She needed no pacemaker. But this Physician discovered that she did have a condition called near cariogenic syncope—which meant her brain was sending her heart the wrong signals. Another round of medications did not help--the seizures continued. Next a Cardiologist at Emory University also tried unsuccessfully to bring her seizures under control.
As she dealt with work and seizures both her parents died in 2010. She changed jobs thinking perhaps this would help. The seizures continued increasing in strength and frequency.
In desperation she contacted Johns Hopkins Hospital in 2012. There she was told that she needed to see a Neurologist. She was diagnosed as having simple-partial adult epilepsy. The Specialists told her she was lucky. In her seizures she never had convulsions or lost consciousness. They prescribed another round of medications to bring the seizures under control. Nothing worked. Amazingly she continued to do productive work.
Then in the winter of 2013-14 she had pneumonia six times and an Immunologist diagnosed a second problem: immune deficiency. Here body was not producing enough antibodies to fight off infections. There is no cure for this condition but through immune system boosting drugs she began infusions first at her Doctor’s office and then weekly at home. As she battled the immune deficiency she continued to have eight or nine seizures a day.
On a trip back to John Hopkins the specialists determined that the frequency and the severity of her seizures were beginning to cause cognitive brain damage which terrified her. Major surgery was recommended if she was to stop additional brain damage. Tests discovered an area of her brain the size of a golf ball that was causing her seizures. She needed cranial surgery to remove or dissolve that area of the brain.
When she agreed to the procedure at Hopkins she knew the risks were enormous. The operation could produce a stroke, her speech could be affected and her motor faculties could be impaired. So in June of 2017 she had what the physicians called laser ablation surgery. None of these risks came true. She came through the surgery and after recuperating for several weeks she returned home and to work. Then seizures now are much fewer but her short-term memory was affected and she developed little tremors. John Hopkins continues to monitor her to determine if these side effects she is experiencing are temporary.
For nine and a half years she has been on an emotional and physical roller coaster. I asked her what kept her going? Many people would have just given up in despair. She told me she had grown up in a Baptist Church and in the fourth grade she was baptized. This became the beginning of a journey that continues after all these years. “I have found,” she said, “all the complicated and scary changes I have been through have opened doors to a deeper faith.” Every morning Beth sits on her porch praying, reading her Bible, meditating and discovering a strength she never thought was possible.
I asked her what has helped her along the way. She said, “So many and so much.” Beth said the Bible talks about entertaining angels unawares and she has found those angels throughout her journey. Her current church and Pastor have been amazingly supportive. Her friends have helped immensely. But she said, “I couldn’t have done this without my family—my husband Barry of 44 years and our three sons and five grandchildren. They have kept me going.”
As her professional career is winding down Beth has not stopped living. She serves on several committees, she is a member of her church’s choir and has found a new challenge is working in prisons throughout South Carolina. Beth goes into maximum security prisons all across the state and works with 15-16 inmates at a time. She uses her skills as a Educator to stretch the horizons of the prisoners. “It is amazing,” she says “ to see the changes in these men who will be in prison for the rest of their lives.”
One of the hardest things for any of us is to face are those times when our lives are wrenched out of our hands and we have no control. Beth has faced these enormous challenges for nine and a half years and continues to live hopefully and productively.
Her courageous journey reminds me of a poem by Patrick Overton:
“When we walk to the edge of all the light we have
and take a step into the darkness of the unknown,
we must believe that one of two things will happen—
There will be something solid for us to stand on,
Or, we will be taught how to fly.”
--from The Learning Tree
Beth has learned how to fly in the stormiest of weather. I left her porch that September morning knowing that I had a new hero. Her name is Beth Reynolds.
--Roger Lovette / rogerlovette.blogspot.com
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