Taylor's Gift Read Online Free PDF

she remembered. The memories had faded, and that bothered her.
    Now thirty-six, married, and lying on the couch too sick to get up, she watched her own two kids playing. If she died, would they remember her? Sadly, she already knew the answer. Sam was just six—the same age she was when her father died—but Jack was only four. If she died now, Sam’s memory would fade over time and Jack might not remember her at all. It was a painful thought, one that devastated her already dysfunctional heart. She was dying and she knew it. Patricia closed her eyes, trying to squeeze back the tears, and offered her kids the only thing she had the strength to give them—a prayer.
    Please, God, let them always know how hard I fought to be with them, how much I wanted to raise them, and how dearly I loved them.

    Growing up, Patricia thought of herself as healthy. In high school, she was on the track team. She was strong and fast. She had a type A personality and was involved in a variety of activities. Before getting married, she worked full-time as a nurse, started work on her master’s degree, ran marathons, and was active in her church. Heart problems weren’t supposed to affect people like her. But genetics weren’t in her favor. On her father’s side, mortality seemed to hit by age forty-two. By that unimaginably young age, everyone had suddenly dropped dead from a heart attack. Her dad was the last to go. Patricia assumed that since she was so active, she was immune. She’d had her heart checked when she was young, she took care of herself, and everything seemed fine. What could go wrong?

    During her first pregnancy, Patricia’s heart rate occasionally shot into the two hundreds—much higher than it should have been—but it always came back down. As a labor and delivery nurse, she’d seen lots of women overreact to the changes in their bodies, and she didn’t want to be one of them. Every pregnant woman had troublebreathing; why should she be any different? But after Sam was born, some of her symptoms persisted. And then new ones emerged.
    Patricia began to have episodes where she felt as if she would pass out. Her heart rate would increase and then quickly decrease. She began experiencing tunnel vision. With her history, she knew these new symptoms could be serious. Her family doctor recommended she see a cardiologist.
    Her second visit to the cardiologist resulted in a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation, or an irregular heartbeat. The doctor wanted to perform an ablation to fix it and promised she’d feel better once it was done. But Patricia was pregnant again. The procedure would have to wait.
    During her second pregnancy, the symptoms worsened. At work, she would be in the delivery room, working alongside a doctor, and she’d break into a sweat. Her heart would start racing, and she’d feel as if she were going to faint. One day, when assisting her OB with a delivery, it happened again.
    â€œAre you okay?” her doctor whispered.
    â€œI’m fine, I just don’t feel well,” Patricia said.
    â€œHas this ever happened before?”
    â€œA few times,” Patricia said. She brushed it off as she focused on the patient.
    After the patient had given birth, her doctor pulled her aside and said, “We’re putting you on something to keep it from happening again.”
    Patricia started on a low dose of medication. For a while it lowered her heart rate. She felt great, and was pleased when, in August of 2005, she gave birth to another healthy boy, whom they named Jack.

    On the day before Thanksgiving, almost three months after giving birth to Jack, Patricia entered the hospital for the ablation. Things were going well for the young family. The boys were thriving,and her husband’s mortgage business had taken off, allowing them to buy a spacious new home in an upscale neighborhood for their expanding family. Patricia worried more about thawing