Nancy’s miracle; fear took flight

Among the multiple concerns which the COVID pandemic has thrust on the human family, the specter of fear could be the worst.

We are afraid of contracting the disease. We are afraid of suffering from the disease. We are afraid of dying from the disease, and we are afraid of being afraid of the disease. Indeed, fear may be the most horrific aspect of this affliction. That’s what makes Nancy Simpson’s encounter with COVID so miraculous.

Nancy, a certified Public Accountant, is the Madera Tribune’s Chief Financial Officer. In a sense, one could almost say that she runs the company, for we all know about the power of the purse strings.

When the pandemic emerged in early 2020, Nancy took it in stride. She was careful, but she decided that she wasn’t ready to be vaccinated. She continued to come to work; she attended church regularly, and she tended to a host of other community activities.

Through 2020 and most of 2021, life for Nancy didn’t change that much. Then came that Monday, October 25, 2021. Nancy has it marked on her calendar.

She woke up feeling a little “icky.” She didn’t show any of the now recognizable symptoms — no headache, no fever, no cough, but she just didn’t feel good. She went on to work, but she just continued to feel “icky.”

On Tuesday, she felt worse — so much so that she didn’t go to work. Meanwhile a friend suggested that Nancy take a COVID test, so on the next day she went to the fairgrounds for testing. Two days later, she got the word. She had tested positive for COVID-19.

Armed with that information, Nancy’s worsening condition made sense. Over Saturday and Sunday she developed some of the usual symptoms, the chief of which was extreme weakness. She hardly had the strength to do anything. She was definitely getting worse. Then came Monday.

While Nancy was getting worse, her husband, David, wasn’t feeling so good himself. As a matter of fact, while in the bathroom, he passed out and fell, inflicting a cut on his nose that required stitches. With that, both Nancy and David went to the hospital. He tested positive for COVID and had the wound in his nose stitched up. Nancy was examined and they both were administered an infusion. David was sent home, but Nancy was admitted to the hospital.

The next day, although she remained weak, Nancy was discharged and sent home. Over the next week, her condition grew worse and worse, and by the 7th day, she was fighting for air.

On Nov. 10, a doctor friend dropped by and insisted that Nancy be readmitted to the hospital. The oxygen level in her bloodstream had dropped to very dangerous 50 percent. (It should have been at least 95 percent.) Clearly, Nancy was in trouble. One colleague from the Tribune told her later that “We thought we had lost you.”

For the next seven days Nancy lay in the hospital bed practically immobilized, and, during that time, she experienced a miracle. She began to sense the presence of the Lord in her room. It was almost palpable, and it didn’t go away. Instead It prompted her to pray — not for herself, but for others.

During those seven crucial days, Nancy never had one iota of fear. She knew that she could die, but she wasn’t afraid. The Divine Presence assured her that she was not alone, and her thoughts were directed toward others.

She prayed for David; she prayed for her church. She prayed for her colleagues at the Tribune. She prayed for the hospital staff, and she prayed for the other patients in the hospital — especially those with COVID.

Day after day, while her enemy tried to kill her, Nancy would give him no place. She continued to pray, miraculously unafraid, for those around her. And as she did, she began to improve. By Nov. 17, she was able to go home.

It took Nancy several weeks to fully recuperate. Her convalescence was not easy, but amazingly she had no fear. You see, years earlier, as a young woman, Nancy had relinquished her life to Jesus Christ. That’s why she was unafraid. She knew she had never been alone during her entire ordeal with COVID. There was no place for fear, and that is a miracle of major proportions.

Today, Nancy has resumed her place in the Tribune office. She continues to divide her time between work and community involvement, and it goes without saying that she does so with a heart full of gratitude for her miracle.