Journal of a Living Lady #98
Nancy White Kelly
Walter and Ann
Berg are dear friends of ours. He is a retired business owner and lawyer. She
is his help-mate and family jewel. Both
are in my Sunday School class.
Like many of our
friends, they have experienced sudden tragedy and serious illness. It changed
their perspective and priorities.
The last thing on
Walter’s mind in 1973 was a heart attack. It happened two weeks past his 40th
birthday. He had been in New York for a week-long seminar, doing nothing much
but sitting in conferences and eating.
Walter flew home
on a Friday night and got up early the next morning to lead a practice session
with his young son’s baseball team. After some wind sprints, warm-up and
pitching exercises, Walter became aware of pressure in his chest. It became
increasingly intense and painful.
Another son drove
up to watch the practice and Walter asked for a ride home. He doesn’t remember
much of the next few hours, but Ann rushed him to a hospital in Tampa by
ambulance.
The first thing
he does remember was a nurse bending
over him saying, “Mr. Berg, you have had a serious heart attack. If you will do
everything that we advise you to do, you have a 50-50 chance of recovering.”
Walter realized
that this meant an even chance of not
making it. It was a jolt. Up until that time he never thought of death
seriously. He didn’t actually consider himself immortal, but chose to block
death out of his mind.
Later he concluded
that the week of total inactivity coupled with the sudden burst of physical
activity is what triggered the coronary occlusion. Apparently a piece of plaque
in his arteries had broken loose and stopped up the heart valve. The heart
continued to pump, but the blood had no place to go. Therefore the heart
inflated like a balloon causing the pressure in his chest.
Soon Walter was in
the Intensive Care Unit. Another heart patient was in the other bed and all
they could do was watch each other’s heart monitor. Ann was allowed in for five
minutes every hour which wasn’t nearly enough time to tell her what he needed
doing. He was worried because there were things going on in his business that
needed attention.
After moving to a
regular room, Walter picked up a Gideon Bible which he had previously
ignored. The Bible opened to where
someone else had been reading in Proverbs: “So shalt thou find favour and good
understanding in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. “
Walter found those
verses profound and comforting. It didn’t take him long to memorize those two
verses and to realize that he never before had enough faith to claim that
promise. He determined two things: one, what he had been worrying about didn’t
matter in the grand scope of things and two, that it didn’t make much sense to
worry about something that can’t be undone.
After ten days in the hospital, Walter came home a changed man He came
away with a renewed faith in God and a new outlook on life and death.
Twenty-six years
later Ann joined the coronary club. In July of 1999, she was overcome with pain
in her chest, arms, and jaws. When she finally told Walter about it, he
took her immediately to the local hospital and was rushed by ambulance to an
Atlanta hospital. Walter followed
behind in the car, weaving in and out of the metro traffic at 80 plus miles per
hour.
At the hospital blood enzyme tests
confirmed the heart attack. A catherization showed blockages. The doctors
determined that surgery was unnecessary and prescribed blood pressure medication,
proper diet and exercise. After three days in the hospital Ann was released to
come home. Again, they were reminded about the realities of life and
death and the value of family and friends.
For the Bergs, the
heart attacks were wake up calls. Each has since been actively conditioning
body, mind and spirit realizing nobody has a guarantee of tomorrow.
A good reminder to
all of us: If tomorrow never comes, have no regrets for today.
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