This beautiful fall picture of the Petty family was taken on October 26 of this year.
Two days later Melissa had a stroke. The stroke was caused from an unknown congenital defect in her heart (patent foramen ovale). She has since had surgery to repair the “hole” in her heart and has regained a lot of mobility back, but is still struggling with vision loss in her right eye and left sided weakness. Below is a picture of her and her boys taken on Thanksgiving.
How hard it must be for their family to trust God for the greater in the midst of such a difficult circumstance but yet she is still choosing to count graces. Last night she messaged me these humbling words: “I’m so blessed.”
And here’s what she posted on her FB page yesterday (and she told me, “I just sat down with one good hand and one good eye and God gave me some words to share”--oh, how I love her sweet spirit!) :
A Real Man
A Real Man is humble, a follower of Jesus Christ, puts his family above all else and is not afraid to cry.
A Real Man carries his wife to the couch when she’s unable to move or speak due to a stroke and takes his children away so they don’t see their mother suffering.
A Real Man carries his wife to the truck, ER and the hospital room.
A Real Man calls his pastor and closest friends to ...come by his side so he can weep on their shoulders.
A Real Man demands the nurses make changes at 2:00 a.m. to ensure his wife has a private hospital room because he refuses to leave her side.
A Real Man holds his wife’s hand as she is rolled to dozens of tests at the hospital.
A Real Man cries with his wife when she wakes up and is unable to move her left side, talk, or see clearly.
A Real Man is not afraid to show fear and cry out to God on his wife’s behalf because she isn’t able to speak.
A Real Man demands answers from doctors, researches ways to help his wife and does not leave her side for 8 days until she is forced to share a room.
A Real Man will empty his wife’s bedpan and help clean her up all while telling her how in love with her he is.
A Real Man will push his wife around the hospital and outside to get fresh air and carries a tissue with him so he can wipe her tears away at any time.
A Real Man will go to every therapy session in the hospital until they kick him out and all along the way cheer his wife on and ask the therapist why they aren’t doing more.
A Real Man brings his wife home from the hospital, grabs her by the face and tells her how proud he is of her and how strong she is.
A Real Man keeps his wife laughing by telling funny jokes and saying the craziest things.
A Real Man serves his wife her meals on the couch, does daily therapy with her and helps her bathe.
A Real Man sits down with the list of over a dozen pills to organize them in a weekly container.
A Real Man tells his wife he’s never been more in love with her when all she sees in the mirror is damaged goods.
A Real Man takes his wife 4 times a week to therapy sessions an hour away, countless doctor appointments and to the store for a pair of jeans 2 sizes bigger.
A Real Man takes his wife for heart surgery, kisses her countless times reassuring her that God’s got this one too, refuses to leave the waiting room for any reason and is there when she wakes up telling her how proud he is of her.
A Real Man sleeps in a chair in the hospital, holds the cup so his wife can throw up in it because she is so sick, checks her wounds, helps her use the bathroom, and sneaks down to the Starbucks again on the 1st floor when she is allowed to eat.
A Real Man brings his wife home from the hospital, helps her bathe yet again, dresses her wounds for her, and then runs out the door to take his sick 4 year old for chest x-rays.
A Real Man reads every card out loud to his wife because she can’t see clearly, cuts her meat for her and again tells her how in love with her he is.
A Real Man cleans house, folds laundry, takes care of his boys, tucks his wife in nightly with a kiss and then stays up late to work.
A Real Man continues to hold his wife in the middle of the night when she can’t control her muscle spasms, holds her when she cries and goes before the Lord to pray for healing for her.
A Real Man is humble, a follower of Jesus Christ, puts his family above all else, not afraid to cry and is my husband of 13 years.
Please be praying for the Petty family and that God will bring complete healing to Melissa's body!
