More Than We Could Ever Imagine

It was ten years ago that the news struck us like lightning. Our daughter's heart condition had worsened to the point where it would be dangerous to delay having a procedure any longer.

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Out of all babies born, only .03% born with heart defects. 3 out of a 1000, and we hit the jackpot! Why Bernice? Look at her! She is so happy and active. How could it be?

By that point, we had already gone to 4 different doctors in 2 countries. All said that we could wait for the procedure until Bernice was at least 2 years old. After all, she seemed very healthy externally.

"Wait until she is bigger," one said. "Many people lives with the condition undiagnosed and they are fine," another said. Even better, another said that in some cases, the defect went away by itself as the child grew.

Hey. I like the last one best! How great would it be? My daughter will be a living testimony of God's grace. I really, really liked how that sounded.

It was our parents that pushed us to ask for even more opinion. I personally was so sick of doctors already and besides, where else should we go? We had taken our daughter from Indonesia to Singapore. That was difficult enough due to our inexperience there. Where else?

The most practical choice after Singapore would be Australia. However, neither me nor my wife knew anything about hospitals nor doctors there. We also had no immediate relatives there. How could we make sure we would be coming to the right one?

In desperation I asked one of my former colleagues who lives in Brisbane to help me finding any heart doctor for children. I had no expectation. I thought, if I have no reply at all, then we would not go. What would be the point?

Surprise, surprise! My friend got back to me with the name of a heart doctor: Dr. G from a children hospital in Brisbane. However, she gave me a side note: she did not know this doctor personally. She just found his name when searching. It was like finding a doctor from the yellow pages.

After a short discussion, my wife and I decided to go ahead and make a short trip to Brisbane. We were so sure that the result would either be similar to others, or even a miracle! We arranged only for 3 days trip. We were THAT sure.

Dr. G checked Bernice for 1.5 hours. It was so much longer than other check-ups that we had undergone before. Then he broke the news. My daughter's condition was too dangerous to wait for procedure much longer, and he had the data to back his diagnose up. He said that he had to repeat the check-up 3 times to make sure he got the correct reading because he is confused that our daughter did not show any external signs at all. But the readings was bad. Bernice is on the brink of turning blue (very dangerous) according to the reading. He strongly recommended us not to go back to Indonesia. We had to do it there. In Brisbane. In the middle of nowhere for us!

I remembered I was so shocked. I went to an empty room in the hospital to calm myself. My feet was like a rubber. My faith shaken. How could this be? No. My wife and Bernice could not see me like this. I HAVE to be stronger than this so help me God! But why her God? If only I could take her pain, in a flash I would have chosen to do it. No question asked!

I went outside and started trying to logically make a plan. We had to find and contact a heart surgeon, register for the hospital and probably a permit in a foreign country, follow up, arrange for hotel, tickets, anything else? Argh. My head was spinning.

Dr. G simply asked: "where are you guys staying? I will arrange EVERYTHING for you if you allow me. Your case is so sudden that there is no way you can arrange it yourself. I will go to the hospital director and ask on your behalf. I will get in touch with you."

Never in my wildest dream, not throughout my life, could I ever imagine a doctor offering to do this for us! We had just met! That sounded too good to be true. But what other choice did we have? So we decided to go with Dr. G's promise. We left our contact number with him and also asked for his contact number. I planned to wait for 2 full days before I contacted him.

It turned out that Dr. G contacted us first. He had made the appointment for check up with the cardiac surgeon, Dr. A and also the date for the heart procedure. He gave us information on the place, time, and administrative requirements. In short, he has done everything for us. All we need to do is to show up for the appointments!

When we met Dr. A., he was very straightforward about everything. We appreciate that. He explained all the risks involved, including heart failure. Now, I knew that there was always such risks. But still, hearing it firsthand made me dizzy.

Then a nurse jokingly whispered: "It has never happened with him. His success rate so far is 100%. But he cannot tell you that."

We asked him how many similar procedures has he done before. He said five. Per week. On average. Wow!

It turned out we had unknowingly registered Bernice to one of the best children heart facilities in the world at that time! How could it be in Australia? Because congenital heart disease is somehow the biggest killer of Australian kids under 1. The Australians reacted by building the best facilities to treat those disorders

The doctors there had so much experience that they could even told me that I can guess the result of Bernice's heart procedure based on a time frame. Between 30 to 90 minutes would mean a success. Below 30 minutes would mean that the procedure was cancelled due to potential complications. Above 90 minutes would mean that the doctor is having a hard time performing the procedure.

Bernice procedure took 1 hour. Success!

It was the happiest time of my life. My jewel, my angel Bernice was finally cured for life!

After that, we got other revelations: Dr. G did not want to be paid for his services because he knew we would spend so much on the surgery already. His services would have amounted to more than 1000 AUD, especially since he repeated his echo 3 times. He only charged us a minuscule amount because by hospital rules, he needed to charge us something. Apparently, Dr. G also gave his guarantee to the hospital director so that Bernice, an international patient with no proof of insurance nor proof of ability to pay, could be admitted to the hospital. That explained why things with the hospital went so smooth beyond belief.

I wanted a miracle, I waited for it, I asked for it, and he really gave me one. Not what I had imagined, but even better! He gave us a chance to experience how good people can be. He inspired those involved to perform extraordinary deeds. Maybe they felt they were only doing their job, their passion, their calling. They ARE the miracle. My daughter IS a living testimony of God’s goodness!