Do you believe in the power of prayer?

2006 has been a difficult year for the Fausz family. But, through faith, friends, and the power of God, they are holding on. The following is their amazing story.

On February 27, 2006, Terry Fausz was moving soybeans out of a grain bin. He climbed the outside ladder of the grain bin to look at the beans to see if they were getting moldy. When he started back down the ladder he missed grabbing the top rung and fell about 15 feet, landing on his feet and then his backside. He called his wife, Pam, on his cell phone he had in his pocket and she arrived and called 911. Ossian EMS arrived soon after and took him to Lutheran Hospital. He said it seemed like it took a very long time to hit the ground. We think the angels were with him and slowed the fall allowing him to land on his feet first and not hit his head. Then on March 27 his blood pressure dropped severely and they rushed him to Intensive Care and discovered his legs were full of blood clots from his waist to his toes on both legs. Finally on May 3rd he got to come home.

He broke his left leg below the knee; the doctor called it a plateau fracture. He also broke his right leg, the two main bones, and shattered his right ankle and fractured his Number 4 lumbar in his back. He had emergency surgery on his right leg that day. They put his lower leg and ankle in an external fixator to hold everything in place until the swelling went down. A few days later on March 1 he had surgery on his left leg and they put in a plate and screws and told him no weight for two months. Then on March 9th he had surgery again on his right leg to remove the external fixator and put in a long plate and 15 screws and he was told no weight for three months on this leg and foot. His back did not require surgery; he just had to wear a back brace. After 16 days at Lutheran he was transferred to Bluffton Regional’s Continuing Care Unit.
 

Then on March 27 his blood pressure dropped severely and they rushed him to Intensive Care and discovered his legs were full of blood clots from his waist to his toes on both legs. The next day he was taken to Lutheran Hospital’s Intensive Care and several medication procedures done, but they did not dissolve enough of the blood clots. So on March 30 he was scheduled for a fairly new procedure to remove blood clots, where you have an incision in each side of your groin and wrap your legs tightly with bands to push out the clots. The doctor had only done it six times before, but said it is widely used in Europe. We were quite concerned and scared about this surgery. On the morning of the surgery Pastor Kaye Patton, Terry’s mother’s Methodist minister, came to visit as she had several times before while he was in the hospital. Terry voiced his concerns and she asked if she could anoint him with oil. He agreed. She prayed over him and touched his forehead with the oil and at that moment he could feel the tension and fear drain from his body and go out his toes. He was at peace with what was going to happen to him. He felt in was in God’s hands and shouldn’t worry about the surgery. The surgery went well. Pastor Andy and several ZUM friends prayed and stayed with Pam and my family during the surgery. As they did with all my surgeries, she was never left alone during surgery there was always someone there to pray with her.
 

There were a few things we hadn’t planned on resulting from this surgery, he came back with a ventilator and received nine units of blood over the next few days, and was sedated for two days, but looking back that was a good thing, because he doesn’t remember the difficult days. When he was awake the doctor told him if he hadn’t done the surgery when he did he could have lost his legs. So we praise God for bringing the right doctor, with the right procedure, at the right time. He was returned to Bluffton’s Continuing Care Unit to recuperate and have physical therapy. He received many cards and visits and appreciated them very much as it was a very long hospital stay.
 

The end of April they told him he could prepare to go home. Several men of ZUM volunteered to build a wheelchair ramp in our home so he could get in the house. The Men’s group of ZUM donated the material to build the ramp. It was very much appreciated. Finally on May 3rd he got to come home. Our many neighbors and friends and our son, Brian, helped to get the crops planted and he could just watch out the window. He did have two more surgeries, one the end of May and another at the end of June, but they were minor in comparison to the rest. His three months of no weight stretched in to five months and finally on August 7th he was told he could walk with crutches. It has been a long road traveled much easier because of people showing their care, concern and love here at ZUM. We feel very thankful to be members of ZUM. We were on a lot of prayer lists and even got phone calls from China and Florida. Prayer does work! One good thing that came out of all this was our son coming home to farm with us, we had talked about it for a few years and now it has happened. God does heal and he still has plans for Terry. He has more compassion and understanding for those who are handicapped now. There are not too many handicap parking spaces. He is alive to see his new granddaughter, Grace (born Sept 26) and life goes on. Isn’t God good!

– Written by Pam and Terry Fausz