Miracles Happen!

Our God is one powerful God. Really, He really has power. I mean it – He really has power.

It was a Sunday (7th August 2005) - the day my brother came home from a trip to Thailand with his friends. Unexpectedly, he fell sick with a high fever the next day. At first, my parents thought that it was just a normal fever… just see the doctor & he would be alright. The doctor took a blood test & found out that his blood platelet count was 106,000.

According to my Mum, an average person’s blood platelet count should range from 150,000 to 400,000. Since Mark’s platelet count was quite low, the doctor said that Mark needs to take a blood test everyday to monitor his platelet count over the next 3 days. When my Mum told me about this, I told her that I suspected dengue fever. But we decided to wait & hoped for his recovery.

Over the next 3 days, Mark’s blood platelet count fluctuated slightly. From 106,000, it increased to 108,000; then dropped to 104,000. It didn’t seem much of a change, but Mark’s body began heating up till red. Fever reached as high as 39 degrees & he started to sigh heavily & groan in agony because of the aching in his bones in his whole body. As the days passed, he grew so weak that he couldn’t even take off his shirt by himself.

My parents began to feel miserable as the groaning continued. I didn’t know what to do; but from the way I looked at him, it seemed that he looked quite sick.

I came home late on Friday night & my Mum told me that Mark has been admitted to Changi General Hospital! I was stunned… In my mind, I was thinking – how come suddenly so serious?

My Mum told me that she brought Mark to see the doctor again earlier. The doctor took another blood test & the result showed that his blood platelet count had dropped from 104,000 to 65,000! Worried about the huge drop in platelets, the doctor advised my parents to admit him into hospital.

I was shocked. 65,000? This figure boomed loudly in my head. That’s almost like a 50% drop! It was then that I began to seriously worry. I only studied Biology in secondary school, but even I had not studied anything about it, a drastic 50% drop was sufficient to ring the alarm bells in anyone’s head.

My Mum told me that the hospital doctor would have to give him a blood transfusion, should his platelet count drop below 20,000. 20,000?! That’s like super low already! And I got really angry when my Mum said that this is hospital policy & even private hospitals give blood transfusion when a patient’s count hits 35,000. I was seriously fuming…

I asked my parents why didn’t they stay behind & look after Mark. And I got angry when my Mum told me that it was my Dad who wanted to come home to rest. In my mind, I was thinking – what if his platelet count drops even more during the night? And here we are sleeping away till morning? That’s like how many hours later! Who knows what might happen?

I was very frustrated. How can my parents just stay home & sleep when my brother is in such a condition? I asked them if the hospital allowed family members to stay through the night, but they said cannot. Why cannot? He’s my brother leh! What if something happens to him? My Dad said that there are nurses on duty at night. Then I yelled back, “Are you going to trust those nurses? To them, they are working because it’s their job. But he’s your son & my brother! As if by walking around, they can see if something happens to him!”

My Dad said that even if we are there, we can’t do anything for him. I replied, “As if by coming home to sleep, we are doing something for him! At least if something happens, someone can be right there by his side to do something, or call the doctor or something!”

With that, I stomped off to call the hospital. My Dad got a bit worried & started to change his clothes to go out. A few minutes later, I came back into my parents’ room & told them that the hospital staff said that my brother is not in critical condition. Most importantly, as long as his heart-rate & blood pressure is normal, he is not in serious danger. At least after clarifying, we began to relax a bit.

The next morning, I went to visit my brother at the hospital. He was asleep when I arrived, so I watched him for awhile till the nurse came in to take his blood test. He couldn’t eat, so had to be put on a drip. Being afraid of needles, I winced when I saw the needle stuck on his right hand. Shortly after the blood test, my parents came to accompany him.

Over the next 2 days, Mark’s blood platelets dropped from 65,000 to 43,000, then rose to 55,000. My family & I thought that it’s a sign of recovery, though the platelet count needs to increase till above 70,000 before Mark is allowed to go home. Yet, we were hopefully because his platelet count has begun to rise. My Mum told him to eat more, so that he can recover faster & he did.

After the blood test result was out on Tuesday, it showed that it dropped to a further low of 37,000! We were all shocked, as we thought that Mark has started to recover & regain more blood platelets. The nurse decided to put him on drip for another 3 days & we were all upset about this situation.

Mark was unhappy too, as he is an active person that likes to move around. With this condition, he hasn’t been able to bathe, brush teeth or even step out of bed, as the doctors do not wish to subject him to the risk of getting cuts or internal bleeding. Having platelets of such low level, healing from injury is very much lower & it’s dangerous to move around.

I can understand how miserable it can be, not to be able to move around. He had to lie in bed day after day, not being able to do anything or go anywhere. Even urinating & passing motion had to be done at the bed-side. It was quite a torturous feeling to be in this state & yet not know how long this is going to drag on.

No one expected anything good to happen the next day & we could only hope that his platelet count wouldn’t drop any further. My Mum & I started discussing whether we should transfer him to a better ward, so that he would feel better with air con & also less germs from other patients around. We pondered about the cost & wondered whether it would really be of significant help to him, since his major frustration is not being able to move around or go home.

We even decided to bring my Dad’s laptop to the hospital the next day, along with a few VCDs for him to watch. And while we were all worried for him, God decided to do a miracle the next day. And never did we realize till it happened, the extent of impact of this miracle.

The blood test was carried out as usual the next day. My parents & I were at work, so didn’t visit him in the morning. When my parents went to see him in the late afternoon, they were shocked to find out that the blood test result showed a platelet count of 229,000! They were all stunned. In fact, the patients staying in the same ward as my brother were stunned too! My Mum told me that one of them was saying in Mandarin, “You3 Heng3 Duo1 Xiao3 Peng2 You3 Lai2 Gen1 Ta1 Qi2 Dao3”. (Means there were many young people came to pray for him).

It was truly a testimony for all to see. From a low count of 37,000 to a sudden rise of 229,000! That’s a HUGE jump of 192,000 platelets in a single day! Almost 200,000 leh! A smile broke out across my face when I heard about this magnificent testimony of God at work right at that hospital ward. I’m not sure if that shocked the nurses there, but it did shock all the patients in that ward & the word ‘prayer’ was brought up into their midst.

When my Mum called my grandfather, he was shocked beyond words. He said in Mandarin, “Qi2 Dao3 Ke2 Yi3 Ze4 Yang4 meh?” (Means prayer can do such things meh?). Wah, I tell you… it was truly indeed a testimony for my grandfather who is a staunch Buddhist all his life! When I heard that from my Mum, I just couldn’t stop myself from smiling & a sudden sense of inner joy just burst forth from within! In my mind, it was like “Wow! My grandfather actually saw the power of God in prayer!” Even now as I type this, my heart just feels so emotional about this fascinating news.

God has indeed manifested Himself to all the patients in my brother’s ward & even to my grandfather who stubbornly refused to come to church, even after my grandmother decided to accept my auntie’s invitation to come to church & immediately decided to give her life to Jesus.

I just cried at this point while typing this. Tears kept flowing because I’m just so moved by God’s kindness & work in our lives. I trust that through this testimony of his own grandson, my grandfather has taken one step closer to Jesus Christ.

This testimony is typed down & shared solely to give praise & glory to our most high & almighty God. At the moment when we least expect it, He may choose to do a work among us. He could have given my brother 70,000 platelets & let him go home. But He surprised everyone with a whole lot more - 229,000; making such an impact all around the hospital ward & shocked my grandfather with absolute unbelief. And when he does a work such as this, none can say that it’s any less than a miracle. To His glory alone. Amen.