OT "Gift Of Life" : Lucy Cuellar, Awaiting A New Heart
Matthew Kruk
"Gift Of Life" : Lucy Cuellar, Awaiting A New Heart
Posted: 4:55 PM Nov 24, 2009
Reporter: Liz Hayes
Email Address: lha...@wsaw.com
Maybe you've heard about people who've had near-death experiences,
moving out of their body, and into a white light.
But what happens afterward?
Liz Hayes continues her series, "Gift of Life," with the story of a
woman who has all the heart in the world, even though the one in her
body isn't working.
53-year-old Lucy Cuellar needs a new heart.
The hairdresser had a dissection of her arterial wall five years ago.
"Most people who have what I had, the dissection, die when they have the
dissection. How I ever survived that they don't know," says Lucy.
What came next was a massive heart attack, that brought her to her
knees.
"I died. I was gone for several minutes that I was dead and during that
death process I remember leaving my body and the first thing I remember
thinking was this is so cool. All that stuff we're taught as a kid about
life after death is true," Lucy says.
She heard the doctor say, "we lost her." But she says she was already in
Heaven.
"Heaven was that picture on that wall, it was just that close to me and
I stepped into it and there were all these hands coming towards me and I
felt loved and forgiven, I felt that immediately," says Lucy.
But she came back down to Earth, where her husband and young son were
waiting.
There was something she was called to do...
"That was to talk to women who lose their children that I can help them
understand when you die it's only your body that dies, the rest of you,
your spirit moves on," Lucy says.
Lucy is high on the heart transplant waiting list because of all the
support she needs to keep her alive.
The battery-operated Heartmate pumps blood through her body, and it
can't leave her side.
"Sometimes I get really sad about this heart thing and I try never to
think 'woe is me' because I think a bad attitude is never gonna get me
anywhere," says Lucy.
Now Lucy spends her time playing her guitar and singing to those who are
near the end.
She uses her near-death experience as a testament to what she believes
happens in the after-life.
Lucy says, "I thank God every day for my parents who instilled the type
of faith that they instilled in me because I know it's my faith that
gets me through."
As Lucy awaits a new heart, she hopes families will talk about organ
donation and consider the gift of life when the time comes.
"It's important to honor your loved ones if they have that sticker on
their drivers' license. Do this for them, it's the last thing you can do
for them is to honor them," says Lucy.
Find this article at:
http://www.wsaw.com/home/headlines/72862737.html
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