Tag: heart

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Breaking Church News

Update: Voddie Baucham To Undergo Coronary Bypass Surgery This Morning


Pastor Voddie Baucham is undergoing coronary bypass surgery today, the result of having a major setback with his heart and recovery.

Voddie was about to embark on a book tour for the launch of his excellent Fault Lines, when doctors discovered another blockage in his heart, the result of the weekly tests he stays close by to do. A spokesperson for Voddie explains:

“It was determined that he must have another procedure this weekend to deal with the blockage. Please pray for Voddie and his doctors as he undergoes this new procedure. We expect to have the next update on his condition early next week”

According to the Mayo Clinic, “Coronary bypass surgery is a procedure that restores blood flow to your heart muscle by diverting the flow of blood around a section of a blocked artery in your heart. Coronary bypass surgery redirects blood around a section of a blocked or partially blocked artery in your heart.”

This bad news comes less than a week after updating supporters that things were going great and on the up and up.

Lord willing if everything goes well today, we’ll go from weekly visits to monthly visits for the next couple of months, and if everything checks out, then by the end of may I should be released to go to quarterly visits.

At the time he said that “everything looks good,” and that he’s getting stronger every day, walking a mile at a time and doing pushups, situps, and squats, all while waiting for a release from his doctors that will let him do more, push things and see his heart challenged.

While saying, “We have to be prepared for the possibility that there are more [challenges] ahead,” he informed friends and supporters, “The good news is, I am no longer on a path to heart transplant.”

Continue to pray fro Voddie

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Church Evangelical Stuff Featured

Voddie Baucham Update – One Month Post-op – ‘I am No Longer on a Path to a Heart Transplant’

Voddie Baucham has given an update on how he’s doing one-month post-op, explaining that things are doing well and he’s no longer on a path to needing a heart transplant.

Speaking from his car, Voddie shared with his followers that his wife Bridget went back to Zambia, got the kids, and that the whole family is living with them in a bed and breakfast in Jacksonville so they can be close by the Mayo Clinic while he undergoes weekly tests and cardiac rehab, made possible by the nearly $1,500,000 dollars raised on his GoFundMe account.

He explains that he’s been going in once a week for checkups, with yesterday being a whole day from 7:30 a.m. to almost 3:00 p.m. of undergoing a battery of examinations and tests.

Lord willing if everything goes well today, we’ll go from weekly visits to monthly visits for the next couple of months, and if everything checks out, then by the end of may I should be released to go to quarterly visits.

Voddie tells us that “everything looks good,” and that he’s getting stronger every day, walking a mile at a time and doing pushups, situps, and squats, all while waiting for a release from his doctors that will let him do more, push things and see his heart challenged.

While saying, “We have to be prepared for the possibility that there are more [challenges] ahead,” he informed friends and supporters, “The good news is, I am no longer on a path to heart transplant.”


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Church Evangelical Stuff Featured News

Voddie Baucham Medical Update ‘I was Within an Hour or so of Death’

Voddie Baucham has provided another update from inside the Mayo Clinic, informing supporters and concerned believers that he is fine for now, with a “clear, aggressive, and promising treatment plan” in place, but that he almost didn’t make it, with the doctor who brought him in telling him he was “in the final stages of a catastrophic event, and within an hour or so of death.”

The beloved teacher and minister flew out from Zambia to the hospital in Florida last week, making a trek that involved a 16-hour flight, 5 layovers, cancelled flights, a once-in-a-lifetime snow storm, and tens of thousands of saints keeping him in prayer.

He wrote this update on his social media pages:

@americanair found our @saddlebackbags and delivered them. Praise the Lord for a burden lifted!

On the health front, I am still at the @mayoclinic and receiving care from some of the top doctors in the world in the field of heart failure.

My condition is much improved, and we have a clear, aggressive, and promising treatment plan. Bridget and I continue to marvel at the Lord’s providence and rejoice in his goodness. According to the doctor that brought me in (actually, his wife picked us up and rushed us to the E.D., but that’s another story for another time), I was in the final stages of a catastrophic event, and within an hour or so of death.

When we look back at the amazing work of the missionary doctor in Lusaka who stabilized me (and saved my life), the GoFundMe, canceled flights, weather delays, my vitals during the Joburg to Doha flight, a last-minute itinerary change to Jacksonville, and the fact that Mayo was expecting and waiting for me upon arrival (including the paramedic who checked me in and said, “I’m trying not to go all fan-girl right now,” 😂 it is impossible to deny the hand of our Sovereign God and the way he shepherded us.

There is much more I could say and a great deal more work to be done, but we are resting and rejoicing in God’s goodness. Even in the ‘little’ things… Like finally getting our bags! Especially when we realize that, if we had waited and taken the same journey our bags did (our original itinerary), we would not have made it to Mayo in time.

#TheyFoundOurBags
#TheBagsWereLateButWeWereNot
#GodIsAlwaysOnTime

Baucham had written a post yesterday regarding their dismay at having his bags lost.

Prior to this health scare, Voddie had been battling chronic illness for years, even as he built his strength through resistance training, martial arts, exercise, and sport, according to a recent article by the Christian Post which features Voddie’s health commitments and routines over the last decade to protect his health and heart, including losing over 60lb’s in 2018.

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Church Evangelical Stuff Featured

Health Update on Voddie Baucham: Out of Texas and In the Hospital

Update #1: From Voddie’s Instagram a few minutes ago.

The Lord saw fit to open a door at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL. But before I could get to my appointment, things took a turn for the worse. I ended up in the ER, and was subsequently admitted.

Someday, I’ll tell the whole story of how the Lord shepherded us here, but for now, I’ll just say we are grateful to be where we are.

Up to this point we have been playing defense (i.e. don’t die!). Now we go on offense (find the problem and fix it).

Thank you for praying and for your words of encouragement. This journey is a long way from over, but we are grateful for every step.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,” (Ephesians 1:3 ESV)

Voddie Baucham has managed to leave Texas, which has been overwhelmed by snow and grid shortages that left millions without power, and has made it to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, where he is receiving treatment from doctors for his heart failure and kidney problems.

There had been doubt he would be able to get there sooner, given the turbulent journey it has already been, as well as all the destruction the weather is leaving in its wake. Baucham wrote yesterday that they had to “pivot” from their plans when their initial flight was canceled but hoped to find another one later that evening. He further told supporters:

Pray the weather holds up. Pray our strength holds up. Pray my dear wife holds up! Pray our faith holds up. Pray we don’t waste these trials, but learn from them.

Tom Ascol, a long-time ministry partner who organized the GoFundMe for Baucham, which has now surpassed 1.25 million dollars, updated both the funds raised and his own Twitter feed to give the news.

The Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville is one of the health network’s three campuses in the United States. They are a world-class hospital that is considered one of the very best, particularly in the specialization of cardiology and heart surgery, and are known for their high level of care and success rate for treatment.

We will update this specific post over the course of the day.

Please continue to pray for Voddie and his family.

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News

Voddie Baucham Experiencing Heart Failure – Pray for Healing

Voddie Baucham, a dear brother who ministers in Zambia, announced on Facebook yesterday that was experiencing a health crisis and asked for prayers and support as he seeks to return to America for testing and treatment.

Initially sent to his supporters via a newsletter, Vodie recounts that after a recent stint in America (January 21-February 09) where he returns several times to preach on his Winter Tour, he felt unwell. He chalked this up to fatigue at such a busy tour, doing a whirlwind 17 dates in 18 days. He explains:

On the way home, there were stretches when I felt what I could only describe as being waterboarded every two or three minutes. That night, upon arriving in Lusaka, I contacted our family doctor. The next morning I was at a medical center doing a series of labs and tests that revealed the worst. I was experiencing full-blown heart failure.

He continues:

As I write this update, Bridget and I are making arrangements to fly back to the USA, where I will undergo a series of labs, exams, and treatments. Some of those will be significant. Hence, the call to prayer and plea for help.

Vodie goes on to request prayer for traveling mercies, physical strength to survive a 36-hour trip back to the states with multiple modes of transport and lengthy layovers, physical healing, prayer for his wife and children, prayer for finances, given that “we are currently uninsured and will have to cover everything out-of-pocket,” and prayer for his witness as he endures this trial and so he can lead his family through this dark valley.

The message has been posted below in its entirety. If you have been blessed by Voddie’s ministry, as we have, please pray for all those things. Anyone wanting to donate to him can do so here at his website, with the caveat he provided in the first part of his post.