In 2008 I began having some discomfort in the center of my chest thinking It was was indigestion and was given some medication. A few weeks later after some tests I ended up having a double bypass heart operation. I was released from the hospital four days after my heart operation. This testimony is another miracle from God in my life. It is my heart’s desire that this will help and encourage many people to know that there is a God that can heal and give you extended life. I will share with you the greatest challenge of my life which surpassed my Vietnam War experience. I call this chapter in my life "Another Challenge and Miracle". Fourth Day After Heart Operation
Testimony to God's Faithfulness
I have for a number of years tried to live a good and healthy life as far as taken care of my body in nutrition and exercise. I have been health conscious since the 1980’s and felt that I had taken pretty good care of myself.
In 2008 Susan and I had been traveling in ministry from January to April on a weekly basis and I was a little tired and knew that we needed to rest for a couple of weeks. We had received calls and schedule upcoming speaking engagements for the next three months.
We had just arrived home from a speaking engagement in Florida the first week in April and were to leave for another conference in 4 days. We received a call from our daughter two days after being home and made a trip to be with her for surgery and a time of recovery.
For the next few weeks and during our time off from ministry and spending valuable time with our daughter in her recovery I began having some discomfort in my chest and my breathing. Not really saying anything to anybody about how I was feeling, I continue on with daily life. I had been on blood pressure pills for over 3 years and at times had to take medication for indigestion. I felt that it was probably just indigestion or maybe just stress related.
A Sign to Me
For the next few weeks and still having pain in the center of my chest I would stop what I was doing and rest and drink some water and the pain would go away. I told my daughter and wife what was going on with me and still keep on believing that this was just indigestion and ignoring the signs of more than what was really going on. As days went on I began noticing that when I would have pain in the center of my chest when the pain went away in my chest I would have pain in both my forearms.
I was traveling back to our home every two weeks to take care of the lawn which was a six hour drive. Only God keep me safe in His hands and spared me from having a heart attack. I had made an appointment with my doctor the second week of June to check on my condition.
On my doctor appointment I told him what was going on and tried to explain what I felt. I was like many other people, that when you go to see your doctor you want good news only. After some test and an EKG I was told that I might have a slight problem with my heart. I was given some medication and was scheduled to have a stress test in 10 days which would be a further test to check my heart.
In June I had my stress test done and after the test the Cardiology Doctor call me into his office and explained and showed me what the results were. There was a problem with the left side of my heart. I was scheduled to have a heart cauterization done in two weeks to see if there were any blockages etc. In July on a Thursday morning my wife and I went to a clinic to have the heart cauterization done. As I walked into the building I started to have severe chest pains, I had never felt this type of pain before, I knew this was very serious.
My Wakeup Call
My wife and I walked into the office to fill out paper work and wait for them to call me for my appointment and the lady at the desk looked at me and said sir, are you having pain and I replied yes I am. She told me to stay seated and called for some nurses and they called me right on in and began hooking me up for an EKG, gave me oxygen and ask me a lot of questions as they began preparing me for the heart cauterization etc. They gave me a pill to put under my tongue to relieve the pain in my chest. A few minutes later the doctor came in to see me and said that my EKG from two weeks ago was completely different and that he was sending me to the emergency room at the hospital and the EMS are on their way to come and take you to the hospital.
My Ride to the Hospital
On my ride to the hospital and still in pain, there was nothing that I could do at this point in my life and I had no control of my life, I began praying and I saidto God; “Papa God I want to make sure that you and I are ok if something was to go wrong and I was to die I needed to make sure that I will spend eternity with You Papa; I said to God I surrender my life, spirit, soul and body, I give it all to you God” everything was quite for a few seconds and then I felt a great peace come over me and I knew everything would be alright.
Emergency Room Experience
In the emergency room they began to prep me for the heart cauterization and were asking me some questions about my life history. They had noticed my burns scars on my right arm and ask me what had happen and I told them that I was a Vietnam Combat Veteran and was wounded in the Vietnam War. They ask me what I done for a living and I told them that I was an ordained minister and traveled as an Evangelist and I was a disabled veteran. I mention to them that I ran and had done half marathons and triathlons in the past. I told them that my disability was for my burn scars and for “PTSD” Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. At that point it seemed that everything they did was at a different pace things changed.
One of the male RN’s told me that he was an ordained minister and he was a Pastor at a church. I ask him if he would pray for me before they would do anything else and he said he would. I told him and the others that were around me that if I made it through heart cauterization, Praise the Lord and if I did not make it through the cauterization, Praise the Lord for I would be with God. He smiled at me and nodded his head yes and then took off my watch and wedding band and then another nurse said to me that she was going to give me a shot to relax me and in just a few seconds I was out.
The next thing I remember was I saw this doctor standing at my right shoulder with a clipboard in his hand and he said to me, I am the doctor that done the heart cauterization and Mr. Haney you have two block arteries on the left main of your heart and one of them is 100% blocked and you will have to be on aspirin and some kind of medication the rest of your life, what do you think about that, I remember looking to the left and seen the monitor and I saw the two arteries and I said to the doctor I have no choice, just fix it. This was about 10:00 am and they began prepping me to go to surgery. I remember nothing from that time until I awoke the next day.
A Light from Heaven
This is what I experienced just before I woke up after surgery, I am not sure where it was a dream or a vision, all I know is it was a real experience and the following is what I seen and felt; “I see a light that was in front of me and it was a brilliant solid color of white, it was so pure that you could see through it but yet it was a beautiful radiant white. At that moment in seeing the white light I thought about how the word of God speaks about the streets of gold but yet you can see through them and how clear they will be. In Revelation 21:21(NKJV) it says; [the twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass]. "Out of this radiant white light was such a love and peace and it was all around me, this love enveloped me, I felt love and peace as never before and it became stronger and stronger and the white light became brighter and brighter and more love and peace came out of the light and came upon me. I then began to wake up and the love and peace of God was upon me and in me and I knew that all was well and I had made it through surgery”.
The Next Day
When I came too it was 2:10 am in the morning. The nurse started talking to me and telling me what had went on and that I was doing good and to keep my right leg still and told me that I had double bypass surgery and that I had a rough night but that I was doing good now. I ask her what day it was and she said it was Friday morning. The nurse told me that my wife and daughter had been to see me and there were two Pastors’ that had been to see me and that my son was on his way to see me.
I remember the telephone ringing and it was my wife calling to see how I was doing and the nurse said do you want to talk to him and I said good morning sweetheart and that I loved her. The nurse told me that most of the surgeon team was Vietnam Veterans and that really touch my heart in a special way, I then remembered about the emergency room and what had taken place when I told them I was a Vietnam Combat Veteran, it all made since.
Sometime between 6:00 or 7:00 am I woke up again and I see a doctor standing a few feet from the end of my bed. He had his white coat on and he said to me, Mr. Haney you look good and I replied it is because of God. Then a few more doctors nurses came by that were on the surgeon team and all of them one at a time said Mr. Haney you look good, and I replied it is because of God. One doctor said that he gave me 60,000 more miles to run, another doctor said I will have you running a marathon next summer, the male nurse that prayed for me, he came by and held my hand and said God Bless you Mr. Haney and I said to him thank you and God Bless you. I found out later that this man went to give my wife my watch and wedding band and also prayed for her.
Honored and Welcomed Home
The doctor at the end of my bed (which I found out later was the surgeon) said, Mr. Haney; this doctor and he pointed to his right was in the Vietnam War as a surgeon, I looked to my left and I could just see his face and white jacket, I remember he had a beard and he told me what year and were he was at in Vietnam. I tried to raise my right hand to thank him and he saluted me, that brought tears to my eyes, they were honoring me. God in his own special way was allowing me as His servant and friend to be honored, I will always be thankful for what God had done for me on that day.
Sometime later that morning my wife and daughter came in to see me and I told them all was well and that I was doing alright. I will never forget the look on my daughters face as she stood and looked at her daddy, she then began to cry and my wife also began to cry and I remember the nurse handing them both a tissue and I told my daughter that I was alright, this was another very special time of my life. By 4:00 pm I was released from ICU and was moved up to the next floor to my room. I was helped out of bed with an assistant and I walked to the elevator and then from the elevator to my bed i put myself in bed without any help, that is a miracle folks.
A Miracle from God
Now I want to share with you a miracle that happened in my life after I had double bypass heart surgery about 10:00 am on Thursday 2008. I was in recovery and the doctor spoke to my wife about 12:30 pm and said “Mrs. Haney your husband is doing fine but I don’t like what I am seeing on the monitor. There is a grayish area around the heart we suspect bleeding. His blood is to thin and we are trying a few things to get it to clot. I don’t want to but I may have to go back in to see what is going on. It is not unusual to do this. I will give it another hour or two and if no change I will take him back to surgery. I will let you know”.
At about 2:30 pm they allowed my wife to see me in ICU. The nurse would only allow my wife to see me briefly and my wife prayed for me and the nurse told her that she had to leave and to go back down to the lobby area to wait. “At this point my wife knew that something was not right and that there was a spiritual battle going on to where I would live or die”. My wife spoke life back into my body and went back down to the lobby and told the receptionist that she would be waiting in the chapel.The surgeon doctor came to tell my wife that he was not going to wait any longer, that he was going to take me back to surgery to see what was going on. It would not take long, that he has done this in other cases before, not to worry. “My wife told the doctor that I trust your decision and that it would not be his hands anyway”. The doctor just smile and nodded his head. The surgeon and his team had to open me back up and to resew the artery where they had done the bypass. This was two major surgeries in just a few hours on Thursday 2008. Another miracle had taken place again. God surely had His hand upon my life that day. I knew from that day I must continue and finish what God had called me to do with Him.
It was after 6:00 pm Thursday that my wife and Pastor’s Don and Douglas prayed for me. My daughter arrived a little after this and came up to see me. The surgeon doctor came and told my wife that he had fixed the problem where the grafting had been done. “I was not aware of all that had gone on in my life on that Thursday, till I awoke early the next morning which was Friday”. My son arrived on Friday afternoon; I got to see my son that evening when I was transferred to my room. I am so blessed to have such a loving and caring wife, daughter, son and family and pastor friends. I am grateful to all the people for their prayers that were prayed for me, they were very much appreciated and I know that Papa God heard every one of them. I spent four days in the hospital from Thursday to Monday morning and I was released to go home in the afternoon. “Another miracle took place that day Thursday 2008”.
Release From the Hospital
On Monday Morning the surgeon came into my room around 9:00 am. He told me that I was doing well and that he wanted to take another x ray and if all was good I could go home if I wanted too. You see folks as you have read what went on that Thursday morning and evening it is a testimony to God Almighty that within four days I was being released from the hospital, all the Glory to God.
After they got me ready to go home, I looked at my wife and said to her, sweetheart there’s only one problem I don’t have any clothes to wear home, “those of you know where I am going with this if you have ever been in the hospital with one of their gowns on”. On a Saturday my daughter and son went to our home to do some work at the house and my wife had given them my clothes to take home and they did not bring me any clothes back to the hospital, we were not expecting that I would be released that quick. Anyway my daughter said to me I will go to the gift shop in the hospital and see what I can find for you to wear. She found me some under garments but no shirt or pants.
I was still not happy to have to wear the gown home, so I pushed the button to get the nurse and ask her if they could get me something to wear home. The nurse came in to my room and ask me what I needed and I told her that I had a problem and she looked at me and said what is wrong and I replied I have no clothes to wear home, about then my wife said to the nurse, William has talked about a pair of scrubs that surgeons wear and has wanted a pair for a long time and she smiled and said I will get you a pair to wear and take home with you. My wife, daughter and I had a big laugh about what had happened.
About 4:00 pm I was released and on my way home. My wife, daughter and I decided to stay in a hotel that night about a mile from the hospital before making the long trip back home even thou it was about an hour and half ride to our home the night rest would be better for me.
Walking and Running Again
It has been over three years know since my heart operation and I am a witness to say that I live an active life thanks to God. I walk four to five days a week, have walked and run 600 plus miles each year for the last three years since my heart operation. My wife and I have completed many races since 2008, in fact three months after my heart operation my wife and I done a 3.1 mile race where I walked, that is a witness in its self what God has done in my life. My wife and I have completed two 10 mile races and done a half marathon of 13.1 miles. In October of 2011 my son ran with me in a 10 mile race and I ran the 10 miles to only stop and walk at the water stations to drink some fluids to keep hydrated. I am so thankful to God for my healing and strength that he has given me and to stay active. Still travel with my wife as evangelist and share what God has done in our lives and preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. My physician and heart doctor are amazed of how I have recovered and they know that it is all because of God. I give all the Glory to Him.
Thankfulness and Glory to God
I am so grateful for what God done for me and my family and that he saved my life once again and that I would be able to share with many people about the gospel of Jesus Christ and to give yet another testimony of God’s faithfulness and His love. He has given me another testimony to share with you and mankind. I came so very close to death but God brought me through, to continue His plan, His purpose and His destiny for my life. All the Glory goes to God Almighty.
It has been a privilege and an honor to serve My Heavenly Father, His son Jesus and His precious Holy Spirit and to have a personnel relationship with Him since January 1991. I owe you my life Father and I live to praise and Glorify your Holy Name God.
I pray that my journey and life experience have been a blessing to all that read this testimony and that it may inspire you and encourage you and give you hope that no matter what life is like, there is a God that loves you unconditionally and cares about you.
Two of my favorite scriptures that has always gave me help, hope and strength in overcoming the difficulties and trauma in my life.
One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.Psalm 27:4 (KJV).
Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD. Psalm 27:14 (KJV).
Jesus as Savior
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A Tribute to Tonya
Please take the time and read A Tribute to Tonya our daughter that went home to be with Jesus as we celebrated her fife In "A Service of Remembrance." Read A Tribute to Tonya.
May God Bless You and Give You Peace And Rest Always,
William
Note: Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations marked (KJV) are from the King James Version of the Bible.
Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are from The New King James Version of the Bible.