Katie John

A young woman that I know of through the Ukraine adoption community was found by her husband yesterday not breathing and with no heartbeat.  Her two young daughters were home alone with her at the time of her collapse.  Paramedics were able to resuscitate her and she is now in a medically induced coma.    The information I am posting below was posted on this young mother's Facebook wall by her father.  Please keep this family in your prayers.

I wanted to provide an update on what is happening and what will happen to Katie in the next 3 days.She was moved from the ER to the ICU last night sometime after 3:00 AM. Brett and I were allowed to see her for about 15 minutes. Since the hour she was admitted, she has been encased in a hyperbaric blanket that cools her core body temperature to 33 degrees C, or about 92 degrees F. This dramatically slows down vital body functions, alleviating her from having to work so hard, but also reduces the amount of oxygen required by the body. She'll be kept in this state until approximately 9:00 PM Tuesday. She is also on a ventilator to assist with her breathing. She is essentially in a medically induced coma using drugs that act as both an anesthetic and an amnesiac so that she will not remember any of the days of her treatment. Sometime on Tuesday night they will begin the process of very slowly warming her core temperature back to normal. This, by necessity, requires anywhere from 24 to 36 hours. Likely sometime on Thursday they will attempt to wake her up and evaluate her neurological condition to determine the degree of injury she may or may not have sustained. For the time being Katie's heart is beating strongly and there does not seem to be any immediate threat. However, it's what we don't know that will determine what happens going forward and we won't have an idea of that for at least 2 or 3 days. For those of you local to Myrtle Beach, the rules in the ICU are necessarily very strict for the next two or three days. We are restricted to very short visits in very short bursts, especially during the period of the induced coma. Even Brett is only allowed a quick visit every hour or so. We tremendously appreciate your expressions of love and concern for Katie and the family, and we are by no means saying you shouldn't come to the hospital if you feel you need to, but you must lower any expectations of visiting directly with Katie until we can get beyond the initial intensive treatment. What we need more than anything at this hour is prayer. It can be cliche to say or request that, but this is no cliche. In the natural there are circumstances about this event that make it difficult to hope. But there is nothing more encouraging than to read texts, emails, Facebook posts, and tweets from people literally all over the world who are praying around the clock in a wall of passionate supplication before God on Katie's behalf. We can't thank you all enough for the way you've reached out to Katie and the family. But now is the time to seek the sovereign will of God and beg for the life of my little girl.