Paiton Shea

It has taken me almost two years to listen and follow what God has been putting on my heart to share. After much prayer and deep thought I am ready to share my testimony in hopes of shedding light on how Jesus can show up in times of desperation and uncertainty. He spared my life and I know he can do the same for you.

December 20th, 2023; I began experiencing chest pain. A weird heaviness that came along with constant pain that intensified with every breath I took. I chalked it up to be stress and anxiety with all the busyness the holiday season brings. I mentioned it to my husband, Jackson but really didn’t think much of it at the time. The following day I was still having pain but kept convincing myself it was probably nothing. The evening of December 21st we had both of our parents over for a pre Christmas get together. During the evening I remember feeling quite uncomfortable, I couldn’t ignore the pain. I mentioned it to our parents and they agreed it was probably nothing serious but that I should call my family doctor first thing in the morning. That night I went to sleep and throughout the night I woke up several times feeling uncomfortable, even waking Jackson up to tell him something didn’t feel right.

First thing in the morning of December 22nd I called my family doctor to see if I could get an appointment but was told I couldn’t be seen until after Christmas as there were no more appointments available. Shortly after getting off the phone with my doctor’s office my Mother In-law phoned to check in and see how I was feeling. I explained to her how they weren’t able to see me until after Christmas. She told me to hang tight and that she was going to try and pull some strings to have me seen by a Doctor who she knew through family and through church. This was my first miracle. Doctor Helen, without hesitation took me on as a new patient and had me to come see her on her day off at her home clinic. Initially she told me that because of my age and clear health history it probably was due to stress and anxiety. Her words to me were “I normally wouldn’t send someone your age for these tests but I’m going to send you for an ECG and chest X-Ray just to be safe.” I truly believe it was Jesus that opened the right doors and put it on her heart to send me for testing. Despite it being just days before Christmas, I found favour and was able to get in for both tests that same afternoon. I was sent on my way and told that my doctor would contact me with the results.

That evening after putting our sweet little Bo to bed (he was 10 months at the time) Jackson and I sat down to play a board game. My phone rang and it was the doctor calling. I answered and she assured me that the X-Ray came back completely normal and it was more than likely just stress causing the chest pain as we had assumed. At the time the ECG results had not come back. I got off the phone and had a sense of relief thinking it really was nothing serious. Approximately thirty minutes later my phone rang again. This time I was about to receive a phone call that completely changed my life. I answered my phone to which the doctor said “Paiton, are you alone?”. Hearing those words instantly made my heart sink and a wave of panic and fear came over me. The doctor the continued to say “sit down and put Jackson on speaker phone”. At this point we both knew something wasn’t right. “A cardiologist just looked over your ECG results and you are in complete third degree heart block, you need medical attention immediately”. I felt like I couldn’t even process or comprehend what I had just heard. So many thoughts and feelings flooded me. The doctor advised us that the fastest way to seek medical help would be to call an ambulance. We phoned our parents to inform them what was going on and Jackson called 911. During the 15-20 minutes it took for the ambulance to arrive I remember sitting on the stairs in our house crying, begging and pleading with God to make everything okay. I kept saying “my baby needs me still, everything needs to be okay”. I’ll never forget this moment in my life where I had so much uncertainty and fear but God showed up and in his perfect timing. My in-laws arrived and found me on the stairs where they laid their hands on me and started praying. I felt a sense of peace and was able to gather myself a bit. The paramedics arrived at our house and ran another ECG to which confirmed it was showing complete heart block. The paramedics were so kind and reassured me I was in good hands. By this point my parents were on their way to our house and I expressed how I wanted to see them before heading to the hospital. The paramedics showed so much kindness and patience and said they would start my IV and monitoring while parked on our driveway so I could see my parents. Both my Mom and Dad were able to come into the ambulance and see me before I left. Jackson was able to stay by my side during the ambulance ride while my Dad followed behind to the Grey Nuns Hospital. We arrived at the hospital and again I found such favour bypassing the busy emergency room and going straight to a bed. The emergency doctor was taken back by the fact I was in full heart block at such a young age.

That first night in the hospital I don’t think Jackson or I got a single minute of sleep. I stared at the hospital room ceiling all night, praying and trying to process what was going on, what this all meant. The next morning I was moved to the cardiac intensive care unit. I was put on continuous monitoring and testing and was only able to leave my bed to use the washroom which was about 5 steps away. This meant no walks, no using the shower and strictly being in bed. Many times while I was in the hospital I would fall asleep only to be franticly woken by alarms sounding and nurses running into my room due to my heart dropping into the 20-30 BPM range. One morning my cardiologist came into my room and to this day I can still hear his voice crystal clear in my head. “You were a ticking time bomb, you could have dropped dead at any given moment and no one would have ever known what happened.” To give some context third degree heart block is the most severe type of atrioventricular block. This occurs when the electrical signals from the top part of the heart stop communicating with the bottom part of the heart which could lead to sudden cardiac arrest. Hearing those words come from a doctor completely caught me off guard. I had no words to say back to him.

This part of my story is where Jesus really started showing his miraculous divine intervention. My chest pain completely subsided supernaturally once I got to the hospital. I was told by the cardiologists and doctors that chest pain was not a sign or symptom of heart block and it truly was a miracle that I had this symptom that prompted me to get checked. The first day in the hospital my troponin and C-reactive protein biomarkers indicated possible inflammation of my heart… But God had other plans. With no medical intervention and only prayer my levels completely dropped back to normal. I was alone in my room when my cardiologist came in to tell me that my levels went back to normal. He said it so perplexed like he couldn’t understand how it was possible. My response back to him was “My Jesus did it”. He gave me a smirk while nodding his head and said “Ya, it had to be something like that”. There’s just no other explanation for the miracles I experienced besides Jesus.

We spent Christmas in the hospital and on December 28th I was transferred to the UofA Mazankowski heart institute for more testing and monitoring. Given my age, the cardiologists conducted every test possible and consulted with cardiologists from around the world in hopes to find the cause.

During my hospital stay I was overwhelmed with the amount of love and support I got from the amazing people in my life. Everyone who showed up for me, sat beside my bed for hours visiting and praying over me. I also received countless amounts of encouraging text messages. I am so grateful for the circle of family and friends Jesus has blessed me with.

January 3rd, 2024 I underwent surgery and received a pacemaker, which I will rely on for the rest of my life. We still don’t have clear answers as to why this happened or what caused it and we may never get those answers. What I do know is God showed up so many times and in ways I’ve never experienced before. It was so evident that he was and is the defender of my heart and he spared my life… he knew I had more work to do down here on earth!

Nearing the two year mark since receiving this diagnosis God still continues to show up throughout it all. I was just able to have a completely healthy, normal pregnancy and natural birth of our second beautiful boy despite being considered a “high risk pregnancy”. All glory to God because I am living a normal, healthy and active life with little to no restrictions.

My favourite Bible verse that I stand by is this

“You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal” Isaiah 26:3-4

My prayer is that after reading my story you too will find comfort and perfect peace in our Heavenly Father.

Love always, Paity