Latest / Why I Believe / Jenni Bernal: When God Said "Everything Will Be Okay"
Transcript
- 0:01Hello and welcome back to Why I Relieve.
- 0:03I'm your host Michelle Van Ruiden and today we have the amazing Jenny Bernal with us.
- 0:07Jenny, can you give us a brief introduction into who you are?
- 0:11Hi, yes, thanks for having me.
- 0:13I'm Jenny Brunel and I'm married to my husband Edgar for over 26 years and we have three beautiful children.
- 0:20They're all adults at this point doing their own thing.
- 0:23And my career is I'm a real estate agent with Keller Williams.
- 0:28Awesome, awesome.
- 0:29Well, thanks so much for jumping on the podcast with me today.
- 0:32I appreciate it.
- 0:33I know it's probably a little bit outside of your comfort zone.
- 0:36So we'll just work through that and that's totally okay.
- 0:38And I applaud you for that.
- 0:39So one of the reasons why you reached out to me and we've kind of talked about this story, but your husband had a bad bike accident in 2018.
- 0:48Do you want to fill us in a little bit more on what that, what that accident entailed?
- 0:53Sure.
- 0:54So my family, we were visiting my dad up in Hayward, Wisconsin, and my husband was training for a triathlon at that time.
- 1:01So we were just, it was a beautiful summer day and he decided to go out on a bike ride and train on his training bike.
- 1:08And it was getting close to dinner time and I was kind of wondering where he was.
- 1:12And he had actually asked me if I had wanted to come with him on the bike ride.
- 1:16I'm like, no, I'll here hanging out with my dad and the kids.
- 1:18And so we were making dinner and I was like, I'm wondering why he's not back yet.
- 1:22So I go grab my cell phone and I see that I had a missed phone call and it ended up being Sawyer County ambulance service that had called me.
- 1:33So I listened to my voice message and you know, it had said, they had said he had fallen off of his bike and he was helicopter lifted.
- 1:42So then when I heard that, I started to freak out a little bit because I wasn't like, I just, you know, took him and he broke an ankle or something like that.
- 1:51And so then I called the ambulance service and asked, you know, what's going on.
- 1:55And he basically told me they had to helicopter lift my husband to Mayo Clinic in Eau Claire.
- 2:01And so I stayed pretty calm and I said, kids, grab your phone, grab your shoes.
- 2:06We're leaving everything else.
- 2:07And we left our dogs there and everything.
- 2:09And we took off in the car to Eau Claire.
- 2:11And I told them we're going to drive as safely as we can and get to the hospital.
- 2:16So then we arrived at Mayo Clinic hospital.
- 2:20And they had my husband in neck brace and I could tell he was really irritable.
- 2:25He had just went through an MRI and they were trying to check for a spinal cord injury.
- 2:31So I found out that he basically couldn't feel anything from the neck down at that time.
- 2:37And inside I was like, just my heart was killing me.
- 2:44Like, I don't know what to do here.
- 2:45And um
- 2:47I was so worried for him, but I knew I had to like kind of stay calm because he was agitated.
- 2:52And then I, we had to make a decision.
- 2:55Um, they said, we're going to have a radiologist read his X-ray, but we're pretty sure there's a spinal cord injury here.
- 3:02And so I don't remember how long it was, but they came back and said, yeah, he does have a spot on his neck and he's going to need a spinal cord surgery.
- 3:11And then they're like, well, you got to decide if you want him to go to sacred heart.
- 3:15or Rochester, those were the two places that did spinal surgeries.
- 3:20And I knew that Rochester was a really good hospital and I wanted him to have the best chance he could to have the best recovery he could.
- 3:28so then they decided that the next morning they were going to take him um to Rochester and then he had to take another helicopter lift over there.
- 3:36And we had to basically leave the hospital.
- 3:39I want to say maybe it was like two in the morning at this point or something.
- 3:42And I'm like,
- 3:44I don't even know if I can sleep and I wanted to get up early because driving from Eau Claire to Rochester is not a very easy drive.
- 3:50And we ended up um coming to the hospital to kind of see him off to his surgery.
- 3:55And, and that's kind of where, you know, we were waiting to see what the results were.
- 4:02And with spinal cord injuries, they don't really know what's going to happen.
- 4:05um Everyone's different.
- 4:08And so that's when the journey began of his healing.
- 4:13And so during this time you had the three kids with you and how old were the kids at the time?
- 4:17my oldest was like 12 and they're like three years apart.
- 4:21So 12, nine and six, probably around there.
- 4:25Wow, and was your dad able to go down with you or is it just you and the kids?
- 4:29It was just me and the kids.
- 4:31um My dad was kind of watching the dogs and taking care of them.
- 4:36further along in the story, all these people start to come visit him in the hospital as well.
- 4:43So he gets airlifted from Hayward to Eau Claire and then from Eau Claire, Wisconsin to Rochester, Minnesota with a spinal cord injury.
- 4:50Wow.
- 4:51And what was his initial prognosis?
- 4:54Was he going to be able to walk after the surgery?
- 4:56They won't tell you that they're like, we're not going to promise you that what your recovery will be, you may be paralyzed.
- 5:02Um, you know, and I knew that that would be really hard on my husband because he's always been an athlete and very active.
- 5:10And that was another thing is like, I wish it would happen to me because I'm not a workout person and I don't do all these things.
- 5:17I mean, not that anyone wants that to happen, but I'm like, this would be really hard on someone who's used to being able to do all these things.
- 5:24And so anyway.
- 5:26he said, I'm going to kick this thing in the butt and had such a good mentality about it and was being so strong about it.
- 5:35And so he ended up, you know, having that mentality and they would have goals on his whiteboard every day about what he was going to have to do.
- 5:43And, know, physical therapy and different things like that.
- 5:46But for the first week he was in ICU.
- 5:49and they were just, you know, kind of monitoring him.
- 5:51And a lot of people think the spinal cord surgery happens on the back of the neck.
- 5:55It actually happened in the front of the neck because if you're going to sleep, you're not going to sleep, you know, your head face down to recover the back of your neck.
- 6:03So they went through the front and they replaced his um C5 and six.
- 6:09And then, um you know, over time he started to get
- 6:13movement, like his hands and stuff came back, but the lower, like from the waist down was lower.
- 6:19And we have videos of him like on these different machines.
- 6:23So after seven days, I knew he was ready to like get out of the bed and start trying to do something.
- 6:28And I had to call and advocate with the insurance to get him into the physical therapy side of Rochester.
- 6:35And then he would have physical therapy a couple of times a day.
- 6:38And they had all these really cool machines that like
- 6:41basically brace you and pick you up and have you, you know, do walking.
- 6:45But there was a lot of like stretching.
- 6:47There was occupational therapy where you're learning how to use your hands and uh all these different things.
- 6:53So that was quite a process.
- 6:55He ended up being there for 40 days total.
- 6:58Wow.
- 7:01I think that's a miracle that he came home after 40 days, right?
- 7:03I mean, just going from a spinal cord injury, not knowing, not being able to feel anything, move anything, and then coming home.
- 7:11So I'm sure during this whole time, how did your faith help get you through this?
- 7:15mean, because that's not an easy thing to do from either of you, right?
- 7:19From you as the caretaker and also trying to take care of three young children and watching the love of your life go through this, but also for him as an athlete.
- 7:29to be just hit with this out of nowhere.
- 7:33Yeah, so there was one specific moment, but there were a lot of moments in there.
- 7:37But the biggest one is, I remember I was sitting, he's over in his table, you know, on his, his, not his table, his bed.
- 7:44And I'm sitting in the chair next to him and I'm just in my own thoughts.
- 7:47And I'm like, thinking, how is this going to turn out?
- 7:52What's going to happen?
- 7:53And I heard a voice say, everything's going to be okay.
- 7:57And I believe that was God.
- 8:00And I just had this sense of peace come over me.
- 8:03And I just had that mentality from that point on that it was going to be okay.
- 8:08And we just had to believe in God.
- 8:11And then a little while later that day, there were like these three little windows that you could see out of his room.
- 8:19It was a really small room.
- 8:21And I see his two friends peek through these windows.
- 8:24And it just like solidified that, okay, there are friends here and they're going to support us with their love and their positivity.
- 8:32And this is one of his friends that he hadn't actually talked to in a really long time.
- 8:36had a falling out and he showed up in the moment that we needed him.
- 8:42And from there on, just everybody came together in my community, in my neighborhood, people I didn't even talk to really as neighbors.
- 8:50People were mowing my yard.
- 8:52Gift cards were showing up in the mailbox.
- 8:55My volleyball team came over and pulled some bushes out so we could put a bike, not a bike ramp, a wheelchair ramp in.
- 9:02We had a friend drive around Minnesota finding us a chairlift because six months before that we had just bought a multi-level home, ironically.
- 9:11No bathroom on the main floor.
- 9:12So that was a big logistic is for you to get out of the hospital.
- 9:16You have to be able to do certain things and get around your home.
- 9:21So we had to build a wheelchair ramp.
- 9:23We had to um have a chairlift and we had to have it be accommodating for my husband.
- 9:29And um
- 9:30I just continued to blow my mind all the cards I got.
- 9:33um I would post on Facebook when I could to give people updates because people were asking, but I only could do, you know, my focus was on him and the kids and I still was
- 9:41working full time.
- 9:42um My employer let me take off, said, you know, you do what you need to do.
- 9:48I said, why don't you let me have Wednesdays off?
- 9:51And I would be the only one to go on Wednesdays and go see him.
- 9:55So I kind of broke the week up to go see him.
- 9:57And then we'd go as a family on the weekends.
- 10:00And because when you're there, you know, you can visit for so long, but he wasn't, he was doing so many physical therapy appointments and different doctor appointments.
- 10:09And I had a whole binder I created of things I needed to do and keep track of.
- 10:15yeah, it was just, you find out you're stronger than you think you are.
- 10:21But I know that definitely was God helping me through that whole process.
- 10:24And I think I can only remember
- 10:27one time completely like breaking down and my kids just were like hugging me and stuff because I was trying to be strong for everybody else and I dug really deep and you know I
- 10:38think it just made us stronger as a family from all of that.
- 10:43Yeah, absolutely.
- 10:45You know, there's definitely strength and struggles and we find out how strong we really are and what we're capable of every time we go through something.
- 10:53And I'm saying that from experience, right?
- 10:55So how is he doing now?
- 11:00What does life look like today?
- 11:03So he's kind of He's from Panama, so he's Latin.
- 11:09So we got that there, but, um, he is still an athlete.
- 11:14Like we play, um, coed volleyball in loopies and the sum and throughout the whole year actually, and it's sand volleyball and you know, he didn't just get into that right away.
- 11:23He gradually worked his way.
- 11:25So he's still going to the gym now.
- 11:27Um, he, should back up.
- 11:28He did learn how to walk again.
- 11:31Um, he did come home in a wheelchair that kind of required it, but, um, he was out of that within a day and then using a walker.
- 11:38And I remember coming home sometimes and be like, dad did this.
- 11:42And I'm like, you don't do that.
- 11:43What have you fell down?
- 11:44And I was kind of like, you know, trying to be protective and also, you know, that balance of not squelching his spirit of what he wanted to do in his will.
- 11:55And, you know, he still is never going to be a hundred percent.
- 11:58he has a little bit of a drag.
- 12:00in his leg and he is just such a fighter.
- 12:05He has aches and pains.
- 12:07He has some neuropathy.
- 12:09considering what the alternative could have been, which would be complete paralysis or partial paralysis, he kind of defied the odds, I feel like.
- 12:19And even his doctors were amazed and they were the best doctors over there and nurses.
- 12:24mean, the things that they would do, but yeah, his life is
- 12:28I would say, you know, as close to normal as it can be.
- 12:31And I think that was the biggest thing for him was to kind of accept if he was going to, you know, what his new life was going to look like.
- 12:40And I got to say last summer he did the loop de loop triathlon with a friend and I was kind of hesitant again.
- 12:49I didn't want him to fall off of a bike again.
- 12:51And that one friend I told you about did the race with him side by side.
- 12:58And I was there to cheer him on because at the end of the day, you got to support the people you love.
- 13:03And I was so proud of him because he was able to basically get back on the bike again.
- 13:08And he did say, I probably won't be doing that again, but I was so proud of him that he kind of kicked that in the butt.
- 13:15And yeah, he's living his life and we're doing good over here.
- 13:21awesome.
- 13:21Does he remember anything from that day?
- 13:23Like what he was doing prior to the accident or was it just does he have any knowledge?
- 13:28He remembers he said, so what happened is his bike had went off the road and he tried to come back.
- 13:34He was like in the gravel at that point.
- 13:36He tried to come back on and he hit the like where the, where the pavement is.
- 13:41caught the lip of that on the front of his bike.
- 13:44And so he was kind of coming down a hill and these bikes are fast.
- 13:48So he was probably going like 30 miles an hour or something like that.
- 13:51And instead of hitting the back brake to slow down, he hit the front brake and he flew over the top of his handlebars, landed on his helmet, which has a big crack and have
- 14:00actually saved the helmet just because it's like amazing that that saved his life.
- 14:05Cause if he went to been wearing a helmet, there would have been no way.
- 14:08And when he landed, he, he said, I thought I lost my arms.
- 14:13And, not that that's funny, but just such a weird thought.
- 14:17And he felt numb.
- 14:19He couldn't.
- 14:20figure out where his phone was.
- 14:21It was under, I think it was in his back pocket or something.
- 14:24And again, blessing of God, the people that came upon him in their car were medically trained.
- 14:31They knew not to move him because if you ever encounter this as a public announcement here, if someone ever hits their neck or head, don't move the person.
- 14:42You don't want to create more problems.
- 14:44And they want him, he wanted to move, but they kept him stabilized as she was holding his head.
- 14:49The other guy was calling um the ambulance or 911 or whatever he did.
- 14:54And you know, I wish I would have been able to talk to those people and never did get to find out who they were and thank them.
- 15:04So yeah, that's kind of what he remembers is he can remember it all and, you know, being in the helicopter and probably being very scared as well.
- 15:12Yeah, I'm gonna ask that because with head injuries, you don't always remember what happened, right?
- 15:19So just, yeah, that's awesome that he had a helmet on.
- 15:23Obviously helmets save lives, right?
- 15:24We talk about that how much in the world.
- 15:26So yes, definitely PSA, wear your helmets if you're riding a bike.
- 15:33So how has your faith changed since that accident after hearing God come down and speak to you and tell you that it's gonna be okay and then for it to all be okay?
- 15:44How has your faith changed?
- 15:45What does that look like today?
- 15:48I know that as people we tend to just rely on him in the hard times, but I think we got to remember to thank him in the good times.
- 15:55And sometimes it'll come into my head that, you know, I got another day with my husband or I got another year to celebrate an anniversary.
- 16:04So I think just really having gratitude and how it changed me is I try to be sharing how I care about people, like thanking people, complimenting people.
- 16:17saying, love you because you never know if that's the last time you're going to see somebody.
- 16:21And just trying to live my life as a good person.
- 16:23And not that I don't have my bad days as well, but I think it just really made me trust and lean on God even more than I ever did.
- 16:33he's gotten us through so many things in our life.
- 16:36You know, there was uh another blessing that happened in this whole story is you can imagine there would have been a lot of medical bills with us.
- 16:44I think it was like
- 16:45I don't know, two or 300,000 total with you at helicopter and ambulances and things.
- 16:50ICU is like $10,000 a day staying in uh a physical therapy, you know, basically living there and they're feeding you and everything.
- 17:01But he had somehow bought some insurance that was an accidental extra coverage for these kinds of things.
- 17:09We paid $5,000 out of all of this.
- 17:12Like that was our cost.
- 17:14And, you know, another thing too, is I was, I'm always been someone like, I am self reliant.
- 17:21I don't count on other people.
- 17:23And it made me realize that people want to help and to not have pride and to allow those people to help you.
- 17:31And then, you know what?
- 17:32Someday down the road, you might be able to help them back.
- 17:35And I think that's really why we're here.
- 17:36And I say this all the time, like, this is just a temporary spot for us and how we are here.
- 17:44is what's going to get us into heaven and that's what I truly believe.
- 17:48absolutely.
- 17:49Yeah.
- 17:51Wow.
- 17:52That's amazing that he had the forethought to buy that insurance.
- 17:55And you know, it's offered so much, you know, as an extra benefit that people just don't think, it's going to happen to me or I'm going to need it.
- 18:02you know, there are times when it comes in handy because insurance is his case.
- 18:07Something happens not planning for it to happen.
- 18:09Right.
- 18:11So, yeah.
- 18:13Oh, so beautiful.
- 18:14So I'm so happy he's okay.
- 18:16How did your kids?
- 18:18take all of this?
- 18:19I mean, being so young, going through all that trauma, because I mean, it's traumatic to the people that are around the injured person as well, right?
- 18:28And so as the kids were going through this with you, how did they fare?
- 18:34So I think that, of course, it's hard for them to see their dad struggling.
- 18:39and um again, he's kind of like me, like I want to be able to get that remote myself or get myself a water and not have to ask anybody for it.
- 18:49And it, it softened my husband, I think more to be accepting of help as well.
- 18:55And I think it helped them to step up a little bit more and, be more helpful to other people as well.
- 19:02Um, we all relied on each other.
- 19:04think that my eldest daughter, especially was always a caretaker besides me.
- 19:10She's kind of like the second mom I always said, and I feel like she, you know, probably remembered it the most.
- 19:17The other two, I do think it affected everyone differently.
- 19:19My youngest, probably it was harder for her to remember certain things and, you know, they just remember seeing dad healing and being positive.
- 19:27would write inspirational messages on his dry erase board and
- 19:32They'd make them cards or we'd bring a game to play or things like that.
- 19:36I wish I regret that maybe we didn't all like go to therapy.
- 19:39I think that probably would have been good just to talk through how they were feeling.
- 19:44But I did individually, you know, talk to them and we've talked as a group when things were happening.
- 19:49And again, just sharing with them that what I had experienced that God said it's going to be okay.
- 19:55And we're going to get through this sticking together as a family.
- 19:58And that's kind of
- 20:01you know, what worked for us.
- 20:03Yeah, awesome.
- 20:05Yeah, and I'm happy that you brought up therapy.
- 20:06think so many times, especially when somebody who is active or is ah very independent goes through something like this is extremely hard, not just physically, right?
- 20:21Because the physical injuries are so easy to see.
- 20:24The mental injury is just so much worse because everyone's like, you should just be happy that you're alive.
- 20:30Well, yes, we're definitely happy we're alive.
- 20:33However, my independence has been taken from me.
- 20:36And how do I move through that?
- 20:38How do I accept what has happened and how do I stay positive?
- 20:41Because the doctors will tell you time and time again, and I'm sure you heard this too, Jenny, is that your attitude really does make a difference in your recovery.
- 20:51It really does.
- 20:53one of the, it was key, yeah.
- 20:56And I think we forget about that, how hard it is to stay strong when all you wanna do is sometimes just break down.
- 21:03And I think it's okay to do that.
- 21:04I mean, I don't think that we have to put on a face and pretend we're fine.
- 21:09And I definitely had like close friends that, well, not even just close friends, like everybody was there to support me.
- 21:15I felt the love around me.
- 21:17And that was one of the blessings and the beautiful thing about this is people just were truly trying to help and offering it in all sorts of ways that showed up in it.
- 21:28It was like one of my outlets as I was making like little fairy garden themed gardens because I wanted to make things that were beautiful or things that just like gave me that
- 21:39peace and everything like that.
- 21:41And I'll be honest, I talked to my husband and I several times was like, I kind of wanted to share this story with our church and I have never done that.
- 21:51And it might be something we do in the future, but um it's just something that I thought was such an incredible story.
- 21:58all the way around.
- 22:00absolutely.
- 22:01Yeah, I'm so thankful that he's here and that he had good people on site taking care of him.
- 22:06I mean, that's so key that not to move in times of trauma like that.
- 22:12So that's really good that he had the right people there.
- 22:15Yes.
- 22:17So you also, I just wanna change topics a little bit here.
- 22:20So you said that you guys have been married for how many years now?
- 22:2326 years this coming July.
- 22:2626 years in July.
- 22:27And so what advice do you have for our newly married people or those that are engaged, getting ready?
- 22:33ah How do you keep it strong and how do you keep moving forward?
- 22:39Well, I think communication is a big thing, you know, and healthy communication.
- 22:45So meaning like if my husband and I have different ways of wanting to deal with an issue, like I want to talk about it right away and resolve it and squash it.
- 22:53Cause I don't like that feeling of someone's mad at me and he's more of a, let me have time to process it and we'll come back to it because I don't want to say something that
- 23:04might hurt you more or whatever.
- 23:05So.
- 23:08Unfortunately, a lot of people around us have become divorced and I'm not saying that communication is the only thing.
- 23:15I think also having faith in God in times of good and bad times and at the core of it all, we just want what's best for each other.
- 23:24We make each other better and we just are a team.
- 23:27know, one time, and this is the thing, it's never going to be 50-50 out there, new people getting married.
- 23:34You
- 23:34Sometimes you're going to be doing 110, 150 percent and the other person's got 10 percent to give.
- 23:40I think it's just you bring each other up, you have each other's back and you talk through things and figure it out together and you're a team.
- 23:51Yeah, and I think that's really important, know, like in your case, in sickness and in health, right?
- 23:56So during his recovery, he wasn't giving hardly at all because he could just give what he could verbally, right?
- 24:04He couldn't do things, he couldn't help around the house, he couldn't help with the children, right?
- 24:07And so you had to bear that burden, which was actually a blessing because you still knew at the end of the day, things were going to be okay.
- 24:14Yep.
- 24:16Yeah, I mean, I never even really thought, I'm doing more than him.
- 24:20It was just the fact that I'm just like, it's got to get done.
- 24:23It's going to get done and figure out how to get it done.
- 24:26Yeah, absolutely.
- 24:31Jenny, I appreciate you sharing your story and your husband's story and how you guys work through that traumatic event in your life.
- 24:38If you had one piece of advice to give our listeners today, what would it be when dealing with something like this?
- 24:46I would say first of all, you gotta bring it to God and he will come up with a solution for you.
- 24:51And you know, you will have the answers come to you if you put your trust in God.
- 24:59And the other thing is accepting that other people can help you.
- 25:04And sometimes you might be a stubborn person like I was or pride or I don't look good today because I've been crying or whatever it is.
- 25:12I think that
- 25:14When people want to show up for you, let them in.
- 25:18Because we're not in this world alone.
- 25:23That is so good, so good.
- 25:25All right, final question for you, Jenny.
- 25:27I've asked all my guests, I think all of them anyway, what is your favorite Bible verse?
- 25:32What do you want to leave us with?
- 25:35So I like the 1 Corinthians 13 through 4, it is, Love is patient.
- 25:45Love is kind.
- 25:46It does not envy.
- 25:47It does not boast.
- 25:49It is not proud.
- 25:52It does not honor other, or I'm sorry, it does not dishonor others.
- 25:55It is not self-seeking.
- 25:57It is not easily angered.
- 25:59It keeps no record of wrongs.
- 26:01Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.
- 26:05It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves.
- 26:11Beautiful.
- 26:13Perseverance.
- 26:14yes, beautiful, beautiful.
- 26:16And I that really played out in your marriage.
- 26:18It still does.
- 26:20And it makes us stronger as a couple now with everything.
- 26:24I'm sure.
- 26:26Yeah.
- 26:28When you go through something like this, it probably changes your frame of reference.
- 26:30So what's easy, what's hard.
- 26:31Yeah.
- 26:33What you some...
- 26:35No.
- 26:37You never know, right?
- 26:38but yeah, I mean, it makes...
- 26:40So when you get the little things that pop up, you know, they're not as difficult as one might think they would be.
- 26:46So.
- 26:48Well, Jenny, thank you so much for being here today.
- 26:49Thank you for sharing your husband's story.
- 26:51Thank you for being so open and vulnerable.
- 26:53I truly appreciate you being here today.
- 26:56Thank you for having me.
- 26:57It was um nice to share this story finally.
- 27:02And you know, can have your friends at church come out and listen to this.
- 27:05So they get the preview.
- 27:07All right.
- 27:09Thanks, Jenny.
- 27:10Thank you.