The hardest choice a person could ever make must be deciding whether to remove a loved one from life support when the prognosis is grim.
A man named Ryan Finley was compelled to make this choice when his wife Jill fell into a coma.
Ryan discovered her unconscious and not breathing. Before the paramedics arrived, he sprinted toward her and tried everything he could to assist her to regain consciousness.
Even though he understood the likelihood of a successful outcome was small, he gave CPR and prayed.
Jill’s heart was weak and her breathing was slow, but paramedics were able to bring her back to life.
In order to reduce the damage to her oxygen-starved brain, she was flown to the Oklahoma Heart Hospital quickly and put in a suit that decreased her body temperature. She, unfortunately, fell into a coma.
Every day Ryan would pray. Though the weeks went into days and he was informed that Jill had no chance, he never lost hope. Then, he was asked to think about letting the medical staff turn off her life support.
In his diary, he wrote about that day, and his words are, to put it mildly, heartbreaking.
“Today might be my worst day ever. In essence, I have to determine if she will pass away or not,” Ryan wrote.
He made the call after attempting to put himself in Jill’s shoes and concluding that she wouldn’t want to live her life that way.
When the machine was turned off and the entire family said their goodbyes, Jill was still there. She wouldn’t pass away straight away, the doctors said, because she was going through the “final rally.”
Jill began rambling at that precise moment. She told her husband to get her out of there and take her to Ted’s or Melting Pot, two of her favorite Mexican restaurants, to the shock of her husband, who was going through a tremendous amount of heartbreak.
No matter how absurd that seemed, Ryan was confident that his loved one would survive. He was correct, too. Jill underwent heart surgery, recovery, and independent breathing.
Jill said she didn’t recall anything about the period she was in the coma, but she had trouble with her short-term memory and pronouncing some phrases.
Other than that, she was in good health and prepared to seize the second chance that God had given her.
The pair is grateful that their relationship is still intact and stronger than ever. Now, Jill said, “we enjoy every day, every minute, and every hour.” Not because we didn’t before, but it puts things into better perspective.”
