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This page is dedicated to
Ashley Fields "God Will Deliver Again"
Ashley Fields is a very special young lady from our community. Ashley and her family live about a mile and a half "down the road" from WDFB. Below is the story of Ashley and the trials she and her family have faced in the past years..... I would like to introduce you to Ashley Fields. I am her mother, my name is Lisa and her dad's name is JR. We live in Danville, Kentucky. The Lord blessed us with Ashley on September 24, 1982. We were not aware until she was nine months old that there was anything wrong. We knew she wasn't rolling over and crawling like she should be. We just attributed it to her being so small. She was diagnosed with Mosaic Trisomy 18. This is a chromosomal disorder where the 18th pair of chromosomes either has one or three instead of the normal two. Eighty percent of her chromosome make-up is like this, with the other twenty percent being normal. The specialist told us this was a very rare disorder, with Ashley being only the tenth person in the world reported to have this. He did not give us a very optimistic outlook for Ashley's future. He said she would never talk, walk or be able to attend a normal school. But praise God, I met my Heavenly Father when I was twelve years old. I had to put her into His hands and allow Him to work a miracle in her life. And He did, praise God! She walked as normal as anyone else, even though she was 2 1/2 years old before she began walking. She talked fine, she did have a speech impairment due to a hearing problem and the roof of her mouth was arched. She could still talk to anyone and everyone, which she did. Some of her words were not pronounced real clearly. However, it did not hinder her from living a normal life and attending a regular public school. One of her favorite things to do was to sing. God blessed her with the ability to hear a song and be able to remember the words and tune. She always sang gospel music, with a song on her heart most of the time. I can remember her riding her bike down the street and singing "Love Lifted Me" to the top of her lungs. Her love for singing often got her in trouble at school because she wanted to sing there....during class. One of her favorite places to go was church. Her dad sang in a gospel group, so she took advantage of the situation and sang herself, every opportunity she had.
Ashley has always been a very loving child. Always smiling and making the best of every situation. She never met a stranger, she talked to everyone. I use to worry that she was too friendly, but I can't help now but to think what a better place this world would be if we all were more like her. Even though she had her share of sickness and surgeries, she never complained. Her ears gave her a tremendous amount of pain and sickness, she had tubes in her ears seven different times. They would usually work fairly well, keeping the fluid drained for about a year. Then, we would have to go for repeat tubes. In 1995, her left eardrum collapsed, they had to graft skin and totally rebuild her eardrum. None of the sickness or surgeries ever got her spirits down. From a very early age, we knew that Ashley had scoliosis. Her family doctor told us when she was about three years old that her spine was curved to some degree but there was nothing that needed to be done at that time. They would keep checking it as she grew older. Some never require any treatment, while some progresses to a greater curve, requiring surgery. Unfortunately, Ashley's did begin to get worse when she was about eleven years old. They then referred us to a spine specialist who monitored her progression. Ashley, went into the hospital early on Tuesday morning, July 16, 1996 for back surgery. The specialist had already told us that as fast as the scoliosis was progressing, if we didn't correct it she would be in a wheelchair within a year. The surgery lasted 9 1/2 hours. Everything went fine. Ashley came out of recovery talking to us and was doing great until early Friday morning. We knew very early that morning there was something wrong because we couldn't get Ashley to respond to us in any way. Due to circumstances beyond our control Ashley's heart stopped beating at about 9:15 a.m. The nurse called "code blue" and said "she's gone"! "You all need to leave the room." I'll never be able to describe just exactly how I felt at that moment. Jr. and I were in the hallway holding on to one another, pleading with God to please save our daughter. We left the room with no personal belongings. We didn't even have our shoes on. A chaplin came and took us to a conference room and we prayed. He then asked if there was anyone we needed to call. My mind was completely blank, but I knew I had to call someone who could reach Heaven for us...WDFB. I called collect and Mildred answered the phone and accepted the call and we started praying on the phone. While we were praying on the phone, the Chaplin came back to the room and told us they had gotten her heartbeat back. We praised God for it. They took Ashley to ICU in a comatose state, where she remained for about 10 weeks. We took her to Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital for 3 weeks. The insurance wouldn't pay for any further rehabilitation, because they didn't see any progress. We brought her home on September 27, 1996 and have cared for her at home since then. Ashley requires 24 hour care. She breathes on her own and her kidneys act on their own. Everything else we must do for her. The only movement she makes is opening and closing her eyes. We feed her through a feeding tube in her stomach, diaper her and turn her in bed every two hours. She is totally dependent upon us for all her needs. We are totally dependent upon the Lord for all our needs. At this writing, it's been over thirteen months and I know we couldn't have made it this far without God. We have struggled in every way-emotionally, physically, financially and spiritually. I cannot even imagine how much worse it would have been without WDFB and the faithful listeners praying for us, sending cards, money and visiting us. Ashley suffered anoxic brain injury due to the lack of oxygen. The doctors have told us there is nothing they can do to help Ashley. I know a Man who can and Jesus is His name. I believe the Lord is going to touch her and raise her up so she will be able to sing His praises again. Her favorite song was "More Than Enough" and Jesus is truly more than enough to heal and to save those who are lost. This has been a very deep valley for us to walk through. Jesus has been right here with us every step of the way. He has strengthened and encouraged us so much. We would appreciate your prayers for Ashley as we continue to care for her. It is so encouraging to hear from members of God's family that we have never met, to know that they are remembering us in their prayers. If you would like to send a card to Ashley, the address is below..... God has blessed Ashley's life so much and we are expecting a miracle to deliver her from this terrible ordeal. He is bigger than all of our problems. Please pray for Ashley. Written by Lisa Fields
Updated July 12, 2004 It has been quite a while since we first told you about Ashley, we are over due for an update. At this writing, Ashley has had many health issues that resulted from her original injury. We have treated her for pneumonia several times, many from aspiration (stomach content that get into the lungs). She has been on just about every type of antibiotic available and has been in the hospital twice this year. She has another feeding tube now that goes directly into her intestines, the stomach is bypassed so she shouldn’t have the aspiration problem like she did before. We still provide round the clock care for her, there hasn’t been any improvement in her condition, she's not getting any better, but that means she's not getting any worse either. On July 19 2004, Ashley will have been in this condition for 8 years. Often we think of how long Ashley has been like this, and then sometimes it's doesn’t seem long at all. There are times that Ashley looks as if she could start talking and walking, she looks that good, and there are times she seem a thousand miles away. We have been blessed with so much love and support from family and friends. I guess it’s normal for people to "forget" after awhile, but we have been blessed not to be forgotten. Our faith has sustained Lisa and me, we are closer to the Lord than any point in our married lives, and are closer to each other than any point in our married lives too. It’s been a trial that I wouldn't wish on anyone, but we believe God has not left us in this valley to go through it alone. WDFB has been a inspiration and a source of strength and courage, our church family have supported us, our families have been so good to us, so we haven’t been alone after all. I don’t believe I had surrendered to the ministry at the first writing, now I am the pastor of Pleasant Run Baptist Church, the church is in Boyle Country here in central Kentucky not too far from the radio station. It's a fairly small country church that loves Jesus and each other. The Lord surely does work in mysterious ways, doesn't He? Lisa has become a licensed beautician and works at the local Senior Citizens facility a couple days a week doing hair. She enjoys the people and it takes her mind off things for a little while. Many have read Ashley's page and have responded with encouraging words, we cannot thank you all enough. We continue to desire the prayers of all who believe, as we do, that God is greater than our need. We take Romans 8:38 to heart "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose." We don't know God’s plan for Ashley, but we believe God is working this for His good. Thank you from the very bottom of our hearts and God’s blessings upon you and yours! Jr. and Lisa Fields
Updated July 20, 2004
Ashley went home to be with Jesus yesterday afternoon (July 19th), exactly eight years to the day that she went into the coma. Please remember this family in your prayers. The days and months to come will be very difficult for them. Funeral services will be held at Preston Pruitt Funeral Home in Danville, Friday, July 23rd at 1 PM with Bro. Harley Humfleet and Don Drake officiating. Visitation is Thursday, July 22nd from 4 to 9 PM at Preston Pruitt Funeral Home. Expressions of sympathy go to WDFB Christian Radio
(Thank you Preston Pruitt Funeral Home for helping to convert this file)
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Ashley
Fields
