A couple weeks ago, my team and I found ourselves staying in Sacramento. Amber and I had the pleasure of staying with Gary, Katherine ,and their 3 boys; Ben, Henry, and Aaron. During our stay with them, we got to do quite a few things. We went to a picnic with their small group, got to watch Gary do improv at a local comedy club (One of my favorite nights!), spoke at their church, hung out with other people from their church community, had an alumni meetup, and got to meet and help Zaria. I asked Zaria if she would allow me to write about her story, and she said yes. This is her story…
So, a little bit of background first… We were told by our hosts (Gary and Katherine) the they had a woman in their church who had a double lung transplant a year ago and needed so yard work done. We were excited at the opportunity to do some manual labor and help out. We hopped in the van, rounded up the team, and headed off to meet Zaria.
I’m not sure what I was expecting when we met Zaria, but she exceeded anything I could have thought. As we walk up we are met by this woman that just exudes joy. She asks us to move some of the patio furniture around, but only so that we could all fit around the table. You see, she had been baking us muffins all morning. So instead of immediately getting to work, we sat around the table and ate muffins while Zaria shared with us her story.
From a young age, Zaria was diagnosed with what they thought was chronic pneumonia. Year after year, she would get sick and be treated for pneumonia. So you can imagine the shock it was as an adult when she goes to the doctor experiencing what she always had, only to find out it was not pneumonia but it was actually something much worse. She actually had a rare lung disease called Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM). LAM is a rare lung disease that tends to affect women of childbearing age. In LAM, muscle cells that line the lungs’ airways and blood vessels begin to multiply abnormally. These muscle cells spread into areas of the lung where they don’t belong. The air sacs in the lung also swell and form small pockets called cysts. As the cysts develop throughout the lungs, LAM causes breathing problems similar to emphysema. The muscle cells can spread outside the lung, forming noncancerous tumors on organs in the abdomen and pelvis. Often, people with LAM develop a sudden pneumothorax (collapsed lung). This occurs when one of the cysts near the lung’s edge ruptures, allowing inhaled air to compress the lung. A collapsed lung usually causes pain and shortness of breath. Lam is progressive, and so far there is no cure. Most women with LAM experience a steady decline in lung function, with increased shortness of breath over time. If pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis progresses and becomes disabling, lung transplantation may be an option. This is what Zaria was experiencing.
Zaria went from thinking she had chronic pneumonia to finding out she had a rare lung disease in a matter of minutes, and can you guess what the first words out of her mouth were?
“MY GOD IS BIGGER THAN LAM.”
That speaks of the faith this woman has. She was laying in the hospital with a collapsed lung, being told her whole world was about to change and all she thought about was how nothing is too big for God. Not even this disease. I was wowed by the genuine faith she has in the power of Jesus.
From that day, her life changed dramatically. She was put on the lung transplant list. She lived attached to an oxygen tank, constantly having to switch tanks out at an incredibly high rate. She quit working and began to garden at her house to keep her busy. She has an absolutely beautiful garden, full of beauty and life.
One day she got the call. They had lungs for her and it was time for her to get her transplant done. This was a miracle because getting lungs is very difficult and for them to be a match for her was even more surprising. She had to drop everything and head to the hospital to get ready to receive her new lungs.
Then began the road to recovery, which is still in progress. She was in the hospital for quite some time and then moved to a recovery center for the next few months. As Zaria explained how difficult this period of time was for her, tears welled up in my eyes. She talked about how she went from being a completely independent woman to having to rely on her mother to do anything. She would have to sit in a chair and not move, just so her mother could go swap the laundry down the hallway. The inability to be independent wore on her and eventually she became depressed. She got so depressed that she was ready to give up fighting. She didn’t want to live life if this is what she was going to have to live in.
She told her mother and her mom pleaded with her to reach out to her church for prayer. She did and she says that prayer is the thing that saved her. She is now a huge advocate for speaking out about mental health and letting people know if you have suicidal thoughts. It was talking about it that ended up saving her life. It doesn’t matter what age you are or what you are going through, your life matters! You are important and loved.
If you are reading this and need someone to talk to here is a number to the national suicide prevention Lifeline:
1-800-273-8255 and a link to their website.
http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/
Zaria allowed me to share her story with you because she wants people to know that God is bigger than whatever battles you are facing. She wants her story to be known and shared so that others may find the hope that she found. There is a song, Great Are You Lord, where we sing, “It’s your breath in our lungs…,” and I can’t help but picture Zaria every time I hear this song. The Lord literally gave her new lungs. Every breath she breathes is from Him, and with that breath all she wants to do is praise Him. To tell of His greatness. To share His love with as many as she possibly can. She uses her breath to pray for her neighbors. She is a part of the prayer team at her church. She worships front and center with all that she has. She sits and shares her testimony to a bunch of weird people who live in a van and travel the US. All to make His name known. My question is…
What are you doing with your breath? What am I doing with mine?
A side effect to the lung transplant is that Zaria can not dig in the dirt ever again. There is so much decay and chemicals in dirt that it is unhealthy for her to touch anymore. So the thing she found so much joy in before her surgery has now become something that she needs help maintaining. My team and I were blessed to be able to go clear out weeds and cut back plants. Not only were we able to help her in her garden but we got to hear her incredible testimony. I was so blessed by meeting Zaria and I pray that her story has impacted you as much as it has me.
*I want to thank y’all for all the support you have given me over these past two years. I appreciate it more than i could ever say. I am about 6 weeks away from my final fundraising deadline and I still have a little less than $2,500 to reach that goal. I ask that you prayerfully consider donating to help me reach my final goal before September 1st. I am also selling t-shirts to help fundraise, so if you are interested in purchasing a shirt, leave me a comment and I can give you more information on that. Love you guys!*
