Easter Sunday is a day to celebrate when Jesus rose from the dead. A day when you should be with your family, and that's what the morning started out like for me five years ago, but after that morning, everything in my life changed.

The night before Easter Sunday, my family and I had a typical Saturday night. Our Saturday nights consisted of eating dinner and going downstairs to play video games and watch a movie. After we finished our movie, we were all very tired, and we knew we had a long Easter Sunday ahead of us with the family. We were all going to go to bed, and my mom had told me that she wasn't feeling well. My dad and I thought she just had the stomach flu, so we didn't think much of it. My mom spent most of the night in the bathroom.

The morning of Easter Sunday, my mom still wasn't feeling well. She had been in the bathroom all night, but that morning, something wasn't right. She had told my dad and me that she had to go to the bathroom, but instead of walking to the bathroom, she walked into a closet. At that point, we knew that something wasn't right at all. My dad decided that he was going to take my mom to the hospital, but he didn't know if he should call an ambulance or if he should just take her to the hospital himself. My dad told me to grab my sister and go play hide-and-seek with her while he took my mom to the hospital because he didn't want my sister to see that something was wrong.

My dad took my mom to Bluffton hospital first. They told my dad that they didn't know what was wrong with her and that they couldn't help her. Bluffton then life-flighted her to Toledo hospital, and there they found out that she had burst a blood vessel in her brain. Again, they told my dad that they couldn't help her. Toledo then life-flighted her to the University of Michigan hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

When my mom got to the University of Michigan hospital, they told my dad that if they did the surgery that was needed, she would have a one-sixteenth chance of surviving the surgery, which meant that she probably wasn't going to survive the surgery. My dad knew that we had to take the chance of the surgery, though, because no one wanted my mom to die. They scheduled the surgery for a few days later.

My dad had come home and told my sister and me that we had to go up to Michigan to see my mom. My sister still didn't really understand what was going on, but she did know that my mom was sick. Little did I know at that time, we were going up to Michigan to say goodbye to my mom just in case she didn't make it out of the surgery.


When we got to the hospital and up to my mom’s room, I just looked at my mom. Stared at her for what seemed like an hour. So many thoughts were going through my head. What if I lost my mom? That's the thought I had over and over again. I couldn't imagine what my life would be like without my mom here with me. I told my mom that I loved her, and I told her over and over again that I was praying for her. I told her to stay strong through this whole thing, and I knew in my heart that she was strong enough.

While my mom stayed in the hospital, my sister and I had to stay with my aunt for a few nights and with Mackenzie Swary for a few nights. My dad was up in Michigan twenty-four seven with my mom. I missed being at home with my parents. I missed my bed. I soon wondered if when I got home, it was going to feel like home. Home is where family is, and I knew that I didn't want to be home without my mom because it just wasn't going to be complete.

The days got closer to when my mom was scheduled for surgery, and finally that day came. The whole day I was so scared. I honestly thought that I would never see my mom again. I was in school crying all day, and I felt like my heart was being crushed. I just didn't know what to think. I felt like that day went on forever. I remember looking at the clock every minute in school wondering if there would be a call for me. I didn't know whether or not to be worried, to be scared, or to be happy. My emotions were bouncing off the walls.

The day finally ended, and, when I got home, my aunt was waiting for me. The look in her eyes made me wonder if she were going to tell me good news or bad news. She told me to sit down at the table so that she could talk to me. I had it running through my head at that point that my mom didn't make it. My aunt finally told me that my mom had the surgery, and it was successful, and she was going to live. I lit up with joy when I heard those words. My worries suddenly went away, and I just looked up and said, “Thank you, Jesus.”

The next day my dad had taken my sister and me up to the hospital to see my mom after her surgery. I was so excited to see her, but I also felt nervous because my dad had told me that she lost some of her memory. I wasn't sure if she would remember me or not, but the first thing she said when I walked into the room was, “ Hi, Alexis” and “Hi, Alysse.” I was so happy to know that she remembered us. When we were visiting her in the hospital, she had told my sister and me that she had died. I was very confused because she didn't die. She explained to us that during the surgery, her heart stopped, and she went to heaven. She told us that she saw Jesus and my grandpa, and they told her that she wasn't ready to leave yet because she needed to watch her daughters grow up. (I didn't know if this were all in her head, or if this were true. To this day, if I ask her about her dying, she will tell me the same story.)

A couple days later, my mom had finally come home from the hospital. It was weird for her to be home at first because it had been sixteen days without her home. When she came home, she had to use a walker to walk, to get up, and to sit down. She also spoke slower because her brain was trying to process everything and start working properly again.

I was so thankful that my mom had survived her brain aneurism. I don't know what I would have done if I had lost my mom that day. I love her so much, and my life would not be like it is today without her. During all of this, I realized that I needed to be thankful for the people I have in my life because I never know when their last day will be. Crazy things happen every day. My mom was truly a miracle. To this day, she still is a miracle.

Every Easter Sunday, we celebrate the rising of Jesus, but we also celebrate my mom’s second birthday. This April will be six years since this terrible incident. Every year we are so thankful that she is here to celebrate this special day with us. Easter Sunday, the year of 2007, I found out that miracles happen, and they happen every day. Thankfully, one of those miracles is my mom.