Twelve weeks ago, 75-year-old Eloise Barnette was unresponsive in her bed. Her husband tried his best to wake her, but was unsuccessful. He called the hospital then, for help.
But there, doctors were also unable to determine what was ailing the woman.
They could only watch, helplessly, as one by one, Eloise’s organs failed. “They’d fix one and something else would go wrong,” husband, Dale, explained.
Dr. Matt Wooten, from Mount Carmel West hospital who was treating Eloise, was at a loss. From tests, he’d already ruled out brain infection, stroke, and even meningitis.
“We really didn’t know exactly what was going on,” Dr. Wooten said. “We had a lot of suspicions, but it wasn’t really anything definite.”
Finally, after two months of keep Eloise alive on a ventilator, but not seeing any positive responses from the woman, the Barnette family made the difficult decision to pull the plug.
They’d already begun making funeral arrangements, and at this rate, they were also ready to say goodbye.
So on November 8, doctors removed Eloise’s ventilator.
The family gathered around, waiting for her to go – but she didn’t.
“We just kept praying,” Dale recalled. “She mouthed ‘I love you’ and I knew she was in there.”
Eloise clung on for another two days, until Dr. Wooten came back to visit. He was stunned to be greeted by Eloise and her voice, herself.
As for Eloise, she thinks what happened is a miracle.
“They didn’t see any chance of me coming out of this and they thought it would be best to just let me go,” she said. “I have a lot of fight in me and it keeps me going.”
Eloise was soon discharged from the hospital and went to a transitional care center to relearn how to walk. On Friday, she was finally cleared to go home.
Doctors are still uncertain what ailed the woman, but she’s leaving and not looking back. “No matter what happens to you, don’t give up hope.”
You can watch a clip of her here:
