Carole Ann and the power of joy

Her name is Carole Ann. She lives in Singapore. She's forty-three. My niece sent a link to a news video featuring her in an email headed, “Here's a quick way to feel SUPER thankful for your life!”

This is Carole Ann's story. In 2018 while at home she had an ovarian cyst rupture early in the morning. After dealing with the pain several hours — not knowing what it was — she called an ambulance. She went into septic shock and everything “crashed.” Doctors induced a coma that very day. She was in the coma for two months.

During this time her kidneys failed — she was put on dialysis. She had two lung collapses and two heart attacks. She was on a ventilator five months.

When she woke from the coma she saw black scars on her hands and thought, “Whoa man, what are these scars?” Her body had tightened so she couldn't lift her hands to look.

The stabilizing drugs doctors had used to save her life held a side effect. Her hands and feet had become gangrenous. Carole Ann “shelved” the thought of amputation. She started physiotherapy with bandaged limbs. After seven months in the hospital she was finally discharged.

Back at home she had “time with my hands and feet.” Then she made her decision. She thanked them for all the work they had done for her. She said, “I told them to go back to God because we've had a good run, but it's time to go back to your Maker.” She had all four amputations at once.

Her recovery went smoothly. But then she had a complication with her stomach and had five operations in three weeks. She says she can't believe all she's been through — almost as if she were another person. She smiles as she jokes with people about how she asked God, “You couldn't have left me one finger? I would have done a lot with it.”

Filled with spunk, she is practicing walking on her new prosthetics so she can get back to work again. “There's a reason for why I'm alive. I can feel sorry for myself later, not now because there's so much to live for. There's so much purpose to do.”

My niece knows of Carole Ann because she is working with her to see if she would benefit from the LN4 hands she distributes. The LN4 Hand Project's mission is “providing free prosthetic hands to anyone in need anywhere in the world.”

I watched Carole Ann tell her story — seeing for myself her zest for life. Her thankful spirit leaps from her. She's someone you wish lived nearby just so you could be around her.

I'm so glad she made it. And maybe that's her purpose. To live through all she has and emerge with joy. Joy she can pass on to those who have hands and feet — but may be missing something on the inside.