Help Lisa Complete Her Miraculous Recovery from COVID

For about the next six months, Lisa needs help to recover from COVID. Around Thanksgiving, she contracted COVID in the worst way: after eight days with a fever, not realizing she was so sick, Lisa started to lose some consciousness…until a friend who Lisa now considers her HERO—Jen Swanson (“Marshal Jennifer” in the photo gallery above)—showed up at her door two nights, banging, and yelling at her with the 911 EMT, “Lisa, you NEED to go to the hospital NOW!”

Lisa conceded and started to lose consciousness in and out along the way.

At the hospital, Lisa remembers speaking with her sister and brother-in-law in Pennsylvania. As a phone was held up to her ear, Lisa was thinking this could be the last thing she would ever say to them.

For the next six days, as Lisa lay heavily sedated, intubated, and unconscious, God heard and answered the many, many prayers that friends, family, and church family had sent up for her. On the sixth day, an ICU nurse noticed Lisa open an eye—and that was when Lisa took a turn for the better.

Having been in the hospital for most of December, Lisa now expects to be recovering in a rehab facility and at home for at least the next six months and possibly a year. She is strengthening every day; progress is slow. She has had to learn how to lift her arms, roll in bed, swallow, stand, walk again—and much more. The biggest challenge has been breathing: her doctor explained that COVID affects the lungs, and Lisa’s case was severe. So Lisa is on oxygen 24/7, receiving physical therapy to increase her breath and lung capacity. After the rehab facility, Lisa will be continuing rehabilitation at home. She will need to readjust, rehabilitate, and wean herself back to work one day at a time, teaching music—to regain some sense of normalcy. Restoration to full health is expected to take much longer, possibly a year or more.

This situation is evolving. Lisa has never experienced anything like this. Her world was turned upside down. Until she is again able to work, Lisa has no other source of income, so the need to meet her obligations is urgent. The funds being requested here are for two months of bills while Lisa is in the hospital (that’s her foot in a hospital sock in the photo gallery ) and rehab, and five months of bills and living expenses while she is rehabbing at home (with her dear cat, BG—for Beautiful Girl, picture in the gallery), with $2,000 added for margin. (Unexpected expenses like car repairs are not included.) Lisa is pursuing other sources of help like COVID relief and disability assistance through programs of the state. Any other assistance secured will be subtracted from this fundraising goal. Whatever is not used, Lisa will donate to one of a number of churches with which she is associated. Likewise, the fundraising goal will be increased if rehab is extended or if Lisa cannot get back to work as soon as expected, or if unexpected medical bills come in.

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PERSONAL NOTE FROM LISA:

Please let God and your heart guide your giving: do not feel pressured. God can use you to help me, for which I am extremely grateful. I am trusting Him for it all. Even if you decide not to donate, I hope you will consider becoming a Follower. Judy and I plan to post an update weekly.

To the many family, friends, and church brothers and sisters who have prayed for me, without whose prayers I would not be here: Thank you so very much!

God bless Jennifer—MY HERO! And wonderful Judy, who thought of this page and put it together.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.

–Proverbs 3:5-6 (NKJV)

—And remember the Name of Jesus: There is power in His Name to help you in any and every situation.

PERSONAL NOTE FROM JUDY (Campaign Coordinator):

(Lisa: Since Judy tirelessly and sacrificially created this page and put it together, I asked her to append a personal note also...)

So here are my (Judy's) reasons for being invested in raising support for Lisa’s recovery...

Throughout 2021, Lisa gave new meaning to Thursday evenings, when we’d devote time to Scripture and prayer by phone for America and our leaders. I had turned to Lisa for prayer because she's always been so strong in the Lord—unwavering in her faith and trust in Him. After our calls, as I’d hoped, I’d have such peace and quiet of mind that I’d continue studying the Bible a while longer—and then sleep especially well.

Until one Thursday eve in early December: Lisa could say only that she was unwell…perhaps COVID…and asked me to please pray. I did, on my own, to keep the call short; she’d said a friend was helping her, so I prayed all would be Ok.

Days passed with no response from Lisa to calls, emails, or texts, though…and no way to reach her. Psalm 139:8-10 came to mind. I finally learned a few scraps of info—nothing encouraging. So I began imagining Lisa in heaven, perhaps auditioning to lead God’s angelic choir: something I could feel thankful about.

When I called the hospital again to inquire about Lisa, apparently still in a coma, an ICU nurse kindly suggested I pray, as "that may be the best hope.” It seemed a divine final exam of what I’d learned with Lisa on Thursday evenings: The final section of our study (“Effective Prayer for Our Nation” by Anne Graham Lotz in Decision, Nov ‘20, pp. 38–39), which Lisa and I had hoped to finish that month, was Effective Prayer is CONFIRMED… would God confirm prayers like mine, though: offered with not much hope?

At one low point, with Lisa still unresponsive, I could practically hear in my mind her triumphant rebuke—ringing out over the miles: “O ye of little faith!” and her full-throated laugh…I had to laugh at my image of her bounding out of Intensive Care, drawing on the tremendous strength and vitality she’d developed through all the dancing, biking, and singing I’d marveled at decades ago (btw—I insisted on including in the photo gallery, above, the chorus line pic—which is how I still think of Lisa: lithe and limber...from a time that seems not that long ago). I’d never considered how I might miss that laugh or her voice, markedly hushed in reverence, when we’d turn to Scripture to read what God had said and done in the face of crises long ago.

Thank You, Lord! My prayers must have been lifted on the powerful wings of other prayers raised with stupendous faith and hope…probably by many visitors to this page, in fact. Because on December 16, I learned with amazement: Lisa was now responding! That was a clear turning point, and on the phone Christmas week, she sounded SO INCREDIBLY JOYFUL to be alive that my heart was warmed for the rest of the holiday season. She's improved daily and her progress has been wonderful to ponder, even if it might seem slow: her recovery is being accomplished “in the fullness of time”—God’s time.

So, Thank You for your part in this miracle story that is unfolding. May God bless you and all yours abundantly in the weeks and months to come!