But in the midst of this busy lifestyle, the Joyner family has endured more than any family should. Sheila was hospitalized for 35 days this past March and the outlook was grim. A combination of a weakened heart muscle, a thymoma tumor and a muscular disorder slipped Sheila into the intensive care unit (ICU) for more than two weeks.

“It’s just so tough on the kids and my husband. That’s just indescribable,” Sheila said.

 

Medical History

Sheila’s battle for survival began more than thirty years ago when she was diagnosed with synovial sarcoma, a rare form of soft tissue cancer. She had her scapula removed and endured two years of chemotherapy and radiation treatments as a teenager.

 

Several years later after giving birth to her first child, Sheila developed a rare neuromuscular disease, myasthenia gravis (MG). This disorder, which causes extreme loss of muscle strength, forced her to retire from her job as a high school teacher.

 

Medical Mystery

This spring, Sheila’s latest medical troubles climaxed again after she returned from M.D. Anderson in Houston with a good report on the thymoma tumor in her chest. She was scheduled to do one more round of chemotherapy in Baton Rouge before the tumor could be surgically removed.

 

“Tuesday before her final chemotherapy treatment, she was experiencing shortness of breath and wasn’t feeling as well as she normally did,” husband Gary said.

Before her appointment that morning, she was admitted to the hospital for issues involving her heart.

 

Sheila Joyner spent one night in the hospital before she passed out and was promptly moved to the intensive care unit. Her family was only allowed visitation four times each day for 30 minutes.

 

“I was planning to see Sheila again during the 5 p.m. visitation on Friday but I got a call from the hospital first. Her blood pressure dropped and it wasn’t looking good,” Gary said.

 

Turn for the worst

That night, Sheila Joyner coded out again and her condition was worse this time. She was unconscious nobody expected her to live through the night. Father M. Jeffrey Bayhi was called in to give Sheila Joyner the Anointing of the Sick.

 

“This is a Catholic belief that either aids the body in healing or helps in the journey back to God,” said Father Bayhi. “It’s up to His mercy and care to restore Sheila to health.”

 

On Friday, March 13, the family told her goodbye.

 

“When we went to the hospital room to tell my mom goodbye, we all had to grasp the thought that we might not ever see her again,” Maggie said. “Everything was running through my mind. I thought my mom wouldn’t get to see me graduate high school or get married.”

 

Harold Clausen, Jr., M.D., FACC, interventional cardiologist at the Baton Rouge Cardiology Center did a cardiac evaluation that evening.

 

“She had global heart weakness. I don’t think we’ll ever really know what caused it all,” Clausen said.

 

Recovery

Soon after she hit bottom Friday, she miraculously stabilized and started recovering.

 

“Sheila kept the physicians busy. She had difficulty with almost every organ at that time so neurologists, ICU doctors and cardiologists were all at her side. She was very critical for about a week or so,” Clausen remembered.

 

“Sometimes nurses and students would just come in my room to be with me for a while,” Joyner said. “They told me they were looking at a miracle.”

 

The Joyner family is thankful for their lives together after that close call.

 

“It has taught me to value my marriage and the love for my family, which we always did. But it’s in a different way now,” Joyner said.

 

Friends and family scattered around the country showed their excitement and praise for Sheila’s unexpected recovery. The night she was in her worst condition, there were prayer groups in Zachary, Lake Charles, Missouri and California.

 

“Everywhere I go, people say, ‘I prayed for you. It just means so much to me to hear that,’” Sheila Joyner said.