Jim Brown, senior pastor of Grace Community Church, Goshen, Ind., underwent a heart catheterization on Friday, August 16, and during the process, it was discovered that the LAD, or the widow maker artery, was 99 percent blocked.
“My body [had begun] to make new capillaries to make up for blockage,” he shared on Facebook (and repeated here with his permission). “All my other arteries were completely clear. So while they were in there they placed a stent in my LAD artery. He [the doctor] told me that most people don’t get a warning with that artery they just die of a heart attack. But God had other plans.”
He had been having some difficulty breathing and some pain in his chest over the last year while running, so had it checked out after a missions trip to Cambodia and Thailand earlier in August.
Jim credits Dr. Darrel Johnson and his teaching to exercise the heart in a Grace College class. “[He told me] the heart is a muscle and if you exercise it, then it will beat less, and last longer. I took that to heart over 30 years ago and it has benefitted me greatly.”
(Jim noted that during a stress test earlier in the week, the nurses and doctors kept asking if he was an elite runner because of his low heart rate.)
“It is obvious that God wants me here longer and that he spared my life,” he wrote. “Doc shared that my heart has not been damaged and that it has not had the necessary blood flow for a while. It amazes me to think that I have gone this long without really knowing this.”
“The good news is that my heart will now have full blood supply and I will have new energy,” he added. “I have felt good energy over the years but now will have extra energy. I am very grateful for the professional care of the doctors and nurses on my heart too.”