Katherine

Monday, my friend Katherine (who I cherish), suffered from a hemorrhage of an AVM (Arteriovenous Malformation). She collapsed and her husband Jay found her and whisked her off to UCLA, where she spent almost 12 hours in brain surgery. Her 6 month old baby, James, was taken care of by family. She has come out of the dark, scary part of the woods, but she's not out yet, so please keep her in your prayers. This has been occupying my mind and heart for the last few days.
Here is the update from last night/this morning.

EVEN BETTER UPDATE!
(as of 9:15 p.m.) Katherine has not only raised her hand but has wiggled all ten toes on command!!!! This is a huge advancement, especially for it to happen so soon after surgery. They are still keeping her in a drug-induced coma for the next 36 - 48 hours to let her body rest and heal, but we are all very encouraged by this latest development. The Lord is at work...keep raising our dear Kat up in prayer!!!!
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Another similar update from Thomas:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

A nurse just informed Jay that Katherine raised her hand and made a "V" sign. According to this same nurse, that means that she is NOT completely paralyzed as the doctors thought might happen. At this point Dr. Gonzales is saying that the important thing is for Katherine's body to remove the blood from affected tissue areas, such as her brain stem.

It's been encouraging to see how many people have shown up at the hospital, and encouraging to see everyone here on Facebook. Prayer is flooding in from around the world and is making a difference. Thank you, and keep it coming!

The words of Jesus that Jay's father has been praying with all of us can be found in Mark 5: "Little girl, I say to you, arise."

Blessings to each of you and to Jay, Katherine, and James,

Thomas

Bless you Lauren for your updates from the 'front lines'
If you need to contact someone at the hospital Lauren is the current point person for friends and family:
laurenmcbrayer@gmail.com
310-733-9313

Lauren McBrayer Miller wrote
at 7:59pm
UPDATE: There has been a bit of good news. The doctors did an arterial angiogram (a type of dye test) a few hours ago that showed that the AVM has been entirely removed and that there is no further bleeding -- in other words, the surgery was a complete success as far as that goes. We still do not know (and still won't know for a few days) whether and to the extent Katherine has suffered any permanent damage. The risks that she has are still very high. Obviously, it is still a very long road ahead and we need everyone to absolutely start a bonfire of prayer. But at the hospital, we all feel the Lord at work and are encouraged by this news.

Right now, Jay and the Arnolds have everything they need, so there is no need to bring anything to the hospital. I'll be in touch in the next few days with plans for meal delivery for the family, but for now, I think Jay would appreciate just your prayers more than anything - no need to send/bring anything to the hospital at this point.