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When Death's Door Didn't Open: Meningitis in China by Fred and Suzanne Gale |
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Chapters From a Coffin-Sized Bunk to the Holiday InnFifty Percent Chance of Survival Masked Nurses, Machines, and Tubes Healing Tears and a Van Reservation |
2 Fifty Percent Chance of Survival Friday morning (eastern U.S. time), Kensington, Maryland It was about 7 am when the phone rang. Suzanne crawled out of bed and drowsily put the phone to her ear. She was shocked into full consciousness when the man at the other end announced that he was calling from a hotel in Guangzhou, China, half a world away. The hotel staff had found her husband, Fred, in his hotel room and had been unable to awaken him. They had taken him to a hospital a few hours before. |
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| Later that morning more phone calls brought worse news. A call from the American Consulate in Guangzhou informed Suzanne that Fred was critically ill with spinal meningitis. He had a 50% chance of survival. At that point she went from eagerly anticipating her husband’s return from a three week trip to facing the prospect that he might die in China. She might never see him again. |
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| Suzanne immediately
called her pastor, David Wong, to ask for prayer. Pastor Wong advised her that she should
go to China to be with Fred. She was terrified by the thought of going to China. Although
she had spent a year in China with Fred nine years earlier, she spoke no Chinese and had
not traveled overseas by herself. After she hung up the phone she sat down and prayed, "Lord I believe that if I have to go to China alone, you will take care of me. I’m not going to ask Pastor Wong to go with me, but if you think I need him, then move him to offer to go." Half an hour later, Pastor Wong called back. When he had told his wife, Nancy, the news that Suzanne would have to go to China, Nancy replied, "She needs you to go with her, and I give you permission to go." It was agreed that Pastor Wong would accompany Suzanne to China, much to her relief. When Pastor Wong agreed to go with Suzanne, a whirlwind of activity and prayer began to get them to China as fast as possible. They found tickets on a flight leaving at 7 pm that same day, direct to Guangzhou with only a brief stop in Los Angeles. Visas to enter China were needed, and an express visa normally takes 24 hours. Theirs were obtained at the embassy in only two hours. Suzanne’s mother dropped everything to come and stay with the kids. Suzanne found friends to take over the soccer team Fred was to begin coaching the following week. Somehow she found time to pack. All the arrangements were completed by 4:30, just in time to leave for the airport at 5. That afternoon a call came from the American Embassy in Beijing advising Suzanne to have Fred medically evacuated to Hong Kong. She made arrangements for a company to evacuate him the next day, but the hospital in Guangzhou would not release him until his hospital bills were paid. But how was she to pay a bill in China? More prayer. A little later the evacuation company called back, saying that the bills had been paid and everything was ready for Fred to be transferred. Later we found out that the manager at the Holiday Inn had paid the bill and put it on Fred’s credit card. To our surprise, the bill was not much more than the cost of a night’s hotel stay in the U.S. |
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