Prayers for Nicole

If you're anything like me, life hasn't been easy lately. For the past year or so, I have been depressed and saddened by personal issues that have felt out of my control, often saying to myself that "things couldn't get much worse". Well, I have unfortunately found out that things can get much worse, things have gotten much worse, and yet when I think of the suffering going on in the world today, I feel completely selfish for thinking that my problems even matter.

I found out yesterday that a friend of mine suffered a stroke in front of her young children when getting them ready to go to school last week. The stroke sent her into a coma-like state and she has been diagnosed with Locked-in Syndrome, a condition that occurs when there is a blockage in the arteries flowing to the lower brain-stems. This rare form of quadriplegia effects all the functions of the nervous system and the 10% that live through it usually retain the ability to think and observe as they normally did but are left with only the ability to move their eyes up and down. There have been no cases of recovery from Locked-in Syndrome.

I met Nicole through my best friend several years ago and she was such a vibrant and lively person. She's a great daughter, wife and mother and I don't even have the words to express how horrible I feel for her and her family. We are all thinking of Nicole and her family and praying for the best.